


Expecting the Unexpected

by Heart_Seoul_Soshi



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-07-20 20:02:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 62,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16144478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heart_Seoul_Soshi/pseuds/Heart_Seoul_Soshi
Summary: A VK lived and looked out for no one but herself. It was the code that Mal stuck by all her young life, until Evie came stumbling headfirst into it. She was the unforeseen variable, the one grudging exception to Mal's rule. So maybe she lived and looked out for no one but herself and her best friend now, Mal could deal with that.Until the day that a mistake on Evie's part accidentally introduced one majorly unforeseen variable into both of their lives.





	1. Chapter 1

Of course Evie was exhausted, constantly coming home at four and five in the morning after long nights out with all the Isle boys her mother had her chase. None of them were princes, or anything remotely close to what Evie deserved, but still, the Evil Queen insisted it made good practice. Mal thought nothing of the way Evie would fall asleep in front of the tv at the hideout in the early hours of the evening, or how she snoozed through more and more of her classes at Dragon Hall lately. What else was to be expected when the Evil Queen made her have a different boy for each day of the week, and then some? It got tiring.

Mal couldn't even imagine it, and very much didn't want to. She turned her pretty little nose up at the thought of it, of dating. Having to do things together, not a moment to herself, having to concern herself with someone else's wants and needs. Hard pass. Mal had already let a friend into her life and allowed her to become a best friend, she didn't need any more than that.

Little did she know then that the universe had drastically different plans for her.

Another night at the hideout with Evie falling asleep on the couch was just par for the course. She'd nap, she'd wake up, she'd stumble her way back to her mother's castle just like she did every other night. Mal left her to her own devices, abandoning her spot beside her on the couch to shuffle off to her room and keep it down so Evie could sleep. Just another day in the life. Except for the fact that Evie didn't stumble home that night, her nap turning into a full-blown crash that had Mal coming out of her room hours later to turn off the lights and drape a ratty blanket over a deeply slumbering best friend.

Mal made it her business to not make Evie's business her business. If Evie wanted to make her mother proud by wasting her time and her life on boys, then more power to her. Mal had drawings to draw and homework to not do, she couldn't be bothered with Evie's galavanting. In fact, she often found herself getting a wickedly amused chuckle out of the girl's escapades, like the way she did as they talked at the lockers one morning before first period.

"You're cancelling your date?" Mal laughed, digging around in her locker. "EQ's gonna flip."

"I know, I know," Evie sighed, leaning a slightly pounding head on the cool metal of a locker.

"Better plans? Who is it today, the one with the stupid haircut? I can never keep them straight," Mal teased.

"I just don't feel good," Evie's sigh was world's heavier the second time around.

"Could've fooled me."

Mal slammed her locker shut, and Evie winced at the rattle of it against her head.

"So, what? Are you going to end up at the hideout tonight?" Mal guessed.

"I have to be  _somewhere,_  don't I? I can't sit at home with my mom knowing I'm supposed to be out on a date."

"Yeah, true. Then I guess I'm your alibi tonight. I'll bring take out from the Slop Shop."

Evie frowned.

"The Slop Shop doesn't do take out," she noted.

Mal's smile was vicious.

"They do if you ask real nicely," she held up a fist to prove her point.

Evie giggled tiredly, obviously still not totally awake.

"Get me my favorite."

"Always do."

It was no secret that The Isle's food was worlds away from gourmet, but still, people had their favorites. Evie had her black coffee (because the Slop Shop would serve nothing else) and her sandwich with rubbery turkey, wilted lettuce, questionable cheese, and rock hard bread. Mal beat Evie to the hideout that afternoon, probably on account of Evie needing to linger at home for a little while to make a show of getting ready for her "date" for her mom's benefit. Mal found it truly amazing that Evie's head wasn't more screwed up, what with all the mind games that the Evil Queen forced her to play.

The grinding of the gate in the alleyway below heralded Evie's arrival, a sound that Mal listened carefully for as Evie's coffee got cold on the end table.

"...Wow. You actually went and got dressed up?" Mal smirked, casting a glance at Evie over her shoulder as she sat with her feet propped up on the rotted coffee table.

Evie had arrived in a short little day dress, purse slipped over one shoulder and outfit properly accessorized with glittering earrings and bangles.

"With my mom watching my every move, yes. Evie of The Isle doesn't cancel dates."

"Evie of The Isle isn't  _allowed_  to cancel dates. What's the Evil Queen going to do to you if she finds out you were here with me all night?" Mal morbidly wondered.

Evie moved through the room with rhythmic clacks of her heels to drop with a heavy thud beside Mal on the sofa.

"I don't know, M. I'll worry about that later when my head is done throbbing."

"Still?" Mal distractedly picked at her stale Danish as she remembered Evie's complaints of a headache all throughout the school day.

"Still," Evie leaned her head against the back of the couch and closed her eyes.

"Drink your coffee. Have some caffeine."

Evie didn't even want to move, body aching the way it was. No doubt she'd slept funny last night or the night before, leading to all the sore muscles plaguing her today.

"...You really still feel like crap?" Mal asked, looking over at Evie.

Her best friend just nodded, not saying a word.

"Yeah, well, unfair how your version of feeling like crap looks a lot like Sleeping Beauty part two," Mal grumbled.

With her focus diverted from the TV set and its horrible staticky picture, Mal watched as Evie's nose suddenly crinkled and one sleepy eye peeked open. Her expression was reading like she'd gotten a whiff of something nasty—which on the Isle of the Lost was always a possibility—but her senses traced the smell wrinkling her face to the styrofoam coffee cup sitting beside her.

"Evie, what's with the face?"

"I'm sorry, I'm just...I don't think I really feel like eating right now."

Mal shrugged.

"That's okay. I'm Maleficent's daughter, it's not like I actually spent money on anything. Maybe you just need another nap, Sleeping Beauty."

Evie wasn't listening, the stench of black coffee was just too overwhelming. Her typical Slop Shop meal, her coffee and her sandwich, except the thought of her sandwich with its slimy, soggy lettuce and its smelly cheese that was beginning to turn colors that cheese really shouldn't be...

Mal never knew a girl could bolt so fast in heels, but Evie jumped up from the couch and raced away so quickly that Mal swore she could feel the breeze. The bathroom door slamming shut jarred her right out of her thoughts of "What just happened?" and she paused mid-chew when the retching sounds came from the other end of the hideout.

Huh. That was interesting.

Mal gave Evie only a few minutes to herself before she too was up and making her way across the hideout, swinging the bathroom door open and narrowed eyes harshly watching Evie sitting on the floor beside the toilet, red-faced and breathing hard.

"...What exactly do you and your boyfriends do on these little dates of yours?" Mal shrewdly asked, crossing her arms.

Evie was a heartbreakingly pitiful sight, pushing hair out of her face with a shaky hand.

"...I thought you made it your business not to make my business your business," she panted, head too stuck in a dizzying spin to make sense of why Mal had abruptly taken an interest in her social life.

"You throwing up in our bathroom makes it my business. So without going into details that I really don't need to hear,  _what_  have you been doing on your dates?" Mal's foot tapped against the tile. Impatiently, anxiously, nervously; she couldn't tell.

Evie's beautiful eyes were wide with innocence, not sensing Mal's tone, not catching her drift.

"...I win a boy's heart, just like my mom always says I should."

Mother pushed her into the boy-chasing, after all. Mother insisted that Evie be fairest of them all so the boys would come pouring in like rats deserting a sinking ship. Evie couldn't disappoint her, Evie  _had_  to find her prince and the big castle he came with someday, even if it meant having to kiss a few Isle frogs along the way.

And the idea of kissing frogs certainly wasn't doing her queasy stomach any favors right now.

"...Yeah, I'll bet you do," Mal said quietly.

She crouched down to Evie's level on the floor, feeling like they really needed to be eye to eye for this conversation.

"E, look at me."

Evie's half-lidded gaze slowly obeyed.

"You've been sleeping like Aurora and still you're exhausted. I've seen you tossing and turning on the sofa at night because you just can't seem to get comfortable. You've had a headache all day today. And now, your favorite food from the Slop Shop has you running to the bathroom."

Evie's body felt very cold while her head felt like it was on fire. Not a pleasant combination, not with all the shaking and the lurking threat of Round Two in the toilet bowl if Mal mentioned food again.

"You're not...Mal, please tell me you're not saying what I think you're saying," Evie pleaded. Begged. Her voice trembling all the while.

"Don't make me say it, Evie. Just be the smart girl I know you are and come to the conclusion on your own."

It all made so much sense now,  _too_ much sense, too much sense for a dazed Evie and her poor pounding head to handle. Her hand went to her mouth, holding back a terrible sob where Mal thought she was holding back that Round Two.

"...No," she whispered, vision clouding hotly.

"...Yes, Evie."

"No!! Mal, just stop it. It's not funny, okay?"

"No, it's not, which is why—"

Evie fought herself to her feet, not giving Mal a chance to finish. She was dizzy now, and wobbled unsteadily, but still she found the energy to storm off and leave Mal hurrying to catch up to her.

"I don't want to hear it, Mal," Evie sternly said, returning back to the living room part of the hideout and wisely giving her coffee cup a wide berth.

"And I don't want to  _say_  that I think you might be pregnant, yet here I am."

Evie shook for an entirely different reason now as she spun around to face Mal, wrapping her arms around herself as if to warm herself of the horrible chill.

"I  _cannot_  be pregnant! Do you have any idea what my mom would do to me if she thought I was??"

"I'd be more concerned with the fact that you're only sixteen, but sure, worry about your mom."

"I have to be the fairest of them all, Mal! She's made that very clear! How am I going to do that with my head in the toilet, circles under my eyes, crying all the time, gaining weight?? My mom will—!!"

Evie stopped herself, hot tears streaming down her cheeks in complete and absolute fear of her mother's wrath. Mal couldn't stand the sight of it, defensive stance and somewhat flippant attitude softening.

"...Okay, fine, maybe we're both just getting ahead of ourselves. Alright? Maybe we're jumping to conclusions."

"I'm just having an off day," Evie sniffed, roughly balling a fist against her watering eyes.

"You're just having an off day," Mal grudgingly agreed.

"And in no way does this count as a mood swing," Evie added, rather startled and disturbed by the seamless shift from temper to tears.

"And in no way does this count as a mood swing," Mal repeated.

They didn't talk at all after that. What they did was claim opposite ends of the couch (the garbage claimed Evie's food) and stare at the flickering static of the tv. Stare at, not watch. Watching involved a mind free from tumultuous thoughts and complete with the ability to focus. Neither girl had one of those now.

Evie was an Isle girl, and an Isle girl's response to emotional trauma was to block it all out and pretend that it didn't happen. Mal knew this. She knew that right now Evie's head was padding itself with a hundred different excuses to protect it from what might be the truth. Being nauseous? One could only go so long before The Isle's food caught up with you. Headache? Headaches were so ridiculously commonplace. The tiredness? The exhausted aching? She was out late a lot. Had nothing remotely close to a steady sleep routine. That was Evie's truth, the one she desperately gripped like her hand desperately gripped the armrest of the couch. As if the poor thing wasn't already worse for the wear with stuffing and wood sticking out at odd angles.

"...Can I stay here tonight?"

They were the first words spoken in hours, and feather-soft ones at that. An Evie who still quivered slightly in her seat daring to break the silence and braving to talk to Mal.

"You don't have to ask me, Evie. You have a room here just the same as I do."

Evie was so relieved. Room of her own or not, Evie still had the tendency to think of the hideout in terms of "Mal's" where Mal had long-since thought of it in terms of "Ours". And Evie just didn't think she could go home today, she couldn't be trapped in a castle with her mother's scrutinizing eyes while tormented with thoughts of  _"What if?"_

Mal didn't know what it was that woke her up from a sound sleep that night, or at least, as sound a sleep as she could get on a secondhand bed with a mattress that sometimes doubled as a brick. But after taking a page out of Evie's book and tossing and turning for a while, finally her "Screw It" mentality took over and had her throwing the covers off. She'd go and make a slow circle of the hideout, maybe two, aimlessly shuffle around a bit before hitting the pillow again and closing her eyes once more. The light spilling across the floor was of course the first thing that caught her bleary eyes on her walkabout, seeping out from under the bathroom door.

Mal knew exactly what she would find before she even walked in.

Evie there on the floor again, slumped sideways against the wall and cautiously facing the toilet, thin strands of hair sticking to her face as she fought to steady her breath. Mal didn't say a thing. With a yawn, all she did was come over, take a seat of her own on the cool floor, and rub a hand in big circles around Evie's back. She felt Evie crying before she heard it.

"Mal..." Evie's voice was choked and broken, the protective padding in her head she'd spent all afternoon and evening building up now stripped away as she went on minute twenty of sitting and fighting with her painfully twisting stomach.

"Just having an off day?" Mal murmured.

Evie was human, she'd had plenty of off days just like everybody else, in spite of her mom's shrill demands for perfection.

But none of those off days had ever looked like this before.

"M-Mal...what am I going to do?" Evie cried, sobs jarring her whole body.

"You're going to go back to sleep. It's one in the morning, there's nothing to do about it now."

"How am I supposed to just go back to sleep like nothing is wrong?!"

Oh sure, just scratch "mood swings" right off the list of symptoms. No sign of those here, not at all.

"...Come sleep in my room," Mal said around another yawn. "Don't be by yourself right now."

They waited together for Evie's devastated crying to settle into gasping little hiccups, tears running out of steam. They waited together for Evie's stomach to settle too, enough for her to make the walk to Mal's room without the bounce of her footsteps alone sending her rushing back to the bathroom.

"This is probably the stupidest thing I'll say tonight, but don't think about it," Mal advised, letting Evie pick her side of the bed and then tucking the covers around her. "Save it for the morning. Maybe we're still just overreacting."

And maybe Evie was pregnant. They were both thinking it despite Mal's version of comforting words, but neither of them could say it again.

Mal tucked herself in too next to Evie, rolling away from her in the dark to curl up and get comfortable. It was only seconds later that with a rustle of sheets, Evie was right there against her, curled up as well with her forehead pressed between Mal's shoulderblades, still sniffling slightly. Mal stiffened, not used to anyone ever being so close, but it seemed that her brusque personality and need for personal space were out for the night.

She couldn't push Evie away.

"...What am I going to do?" Evie couldn't help but ask again, a sort of traumatized repetitiveness in her tone.

Mal didn't know how she was supposed to get any sleep with her best friend shaking like a leaf against her, but still, she wasn't about to be the one to put any space between them.

"I have no idea, E. Just close your eyes."

"I can't..."

"Yes you can. I told you, we're only jumping to conclusions. It's probably just some twenty-four hour bug running loose on The Isle. Just watch, tomorrow you'll be good as new and we'll both be laughing over the thought of you being pregnant," Mal said.

"...Yeah," Evie whispered emotionlessly. "...Laughing."

No one was laughing when two glaring red lines met Evie dead in the eye a week later.

"Evie! Unlock the door!" Mal yelled.

So Evie had peed on a stick. Mal just had to pee in general, and the villain kids' hideout only had the one bathroom.

No response from the other side of the door.

"...Evie?"

Mal waited some more.

"If you aren't going to unlock the door then at least tell me what it says so we can both stop worrying!"

But oh, how the worrying had only just begun.

Evie was making quite the home for herself on the bathroom floor as of late. From where she sat she was able to reach up and over to unlock the door for Mal without really having to move at all, which suited her perfectly. Mal burst in the second the lock clicked like she'd made a running charge at the door—knowing Mal, it could've been the case. And she didn't need to ask again, or prod any further; the little lines really were a very vivid red.

"...Okay, so maybe it's wrong. I'll steal another test in a couple of days and you can—"

"Mal! It isn't wrong," Evie's hand trembled as she held the test. "It's been a week and I'm still sick, and exhausted, and feeling terrible. M, I'm...I'm pregnant."

Peeing suddenly didn't seem so important anymore. Slowly, and woodenly, Mal closed the door behind her, slumping against it as she slipped down to the floor. Why was  _her_ world spinning,  _her_  ears ringing? It wasn't like she was the one who was pregnant. It was Evie. Her friend. Her best friend.

"...Do you know which guy it is?" Mal wondered. Funny how that was the first question to come to mind.

Evie shook her head back and forth, back and forth.

"...No, because you were with all of them," Mal reasoned aloud.

"...Tell me I'm an idiot. Call me my mother's stupid, idiot daughter, or call me a slut, o-or  _something!"_  Evie pleaded.

Mal would do no such thing. She stood back up, towering over Evie for the one and only time in her life.

"You are not stupid, you're not an idiot, and you're not a slut. You're a girl with a horrible mother who drove you into all of this because she's one sick and twisted villain, alright? She's the one who brainwashed this obsession with boys into your head all your life because she couldn't get what she wanted in her own rotten life."

"...And I'm going to end up just like her."

"Huh?"

Evie looked up at Mal, eyes utterly lost.

"I can't be a mom, M. It's not exactly like I have the best example to lead from. Any kid I have is just going to be trapped here on The Isle like the rest of us, with me ruining their life the way I've ruined mine and the way my mom ruined hers before me..."

Mal sat back down, not cornering herself off against the door, but finding her way in front of Evie.

"You aren't your mom. I can tell you that."

"No, I'm just the stupid girl who's stuck with only the biggest mistake of my life," Evie leaned over to drop her pregnancy test in the trash, freeing her hands to bury her crying into them.

"...Well, look on the bright side. You still have a lot of life left. A lot of time to make even bigger mistakes."

Mal set her dark and morbid humor loose at just the right time to free a tearful laugh from Evie. A very small one, a brief one, but both girls would take what they could get from this topsy-turvy day and the topsy-turvy week before it.

"...I'm serious," Evie's smile faded fast. "...I can't do this."

"Not by yourself, no. But you won't be by yourself. You'll have me. Because I'm your best friend, and best friends stick together and crap like that."

That seemed to be the part where Evie's heart normally would've warmed, but she just didn't feel it.

"...Everything is numb," she mumbled. "I'm  _so_  scared, Mal."

"...I am too," Mal admitted. A VK was scared of nothing, yet here she was. "And I could just as easily cut you off, leave you behind, make you deal with this on your own and go on with my not-so-merry life, but I'm not going to do that. I don't  _want_  to do that."

"M, we're talking about a baby. It's a fight just to take care of ourselves here on the island, there's no way we can do this!"

"There's one way. Together."

Evie frowned, studying the set of Mal's face in front of her like it was that of a stranger.

"...That doesn't sound like you," she said.

"I know," Mal sighed. "Maybe I'm finally cracking up. Evie, I don't like kids, we know this. But I like you, and I like this whole ridiculous 'friendship' thing we have going on. So, we go through this together. Partners in crime."

And then Evie was crying in Mal's arms. Mal didn't know what to do for a moment, but quickly discovered that she didn't need to do anything. Nothing except for hold Evie and hug her tightly, something she somehow knew to do despite never being shown it before.

"...I won't be able to go home," Evie realized with a start, clutching fearfully at Mal's shirt. "My mother will figure it out eventually, and then..."

"The hideout is your home. I haven't been back to my mother's castle in months, you can live here with me," Mal said simply. "We'll move your stuff out, little by little. Your mom won't know what hit her."

"...The entire  _island_  is going to know sooner or later, Mal," another startling revelation. "My mother, the whole school, everyone. Everyone's going to know about my mistake, even the guys who..."

Evie couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. She didn't want to concern herself with any of those Isle rats right now, the shifty and sleazy urchins mother set her loose on whose company she really never enjoyed, now that she was thinking about it.

"Everyone will know, there's no way around it," Mal said simply. "But for now? For now it's our little secret."

"Soon it won't be so little," Evie mumbled, her head resting on Mal's shoulder. "Soon I'm going to be huge, and probably overweight, and—"

"And still unfairly pretty, I'm sure. 'Fairest of Them All' isn't a title you lose so easily...and Evie?"

"What?"

"...You're hugging me really hard right now and I still have to pee."

"Oh! I'm sorry!"

Evie quickly let her go and scrambled to her feet.

"Sorry," she sheepishly apologized again. "Go ahead, I'll be in the living room."

She ducked out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

Mal turned around and saw it sitting in the trash, the pregnancy test. She was an artist, she knew all too well of how two tiny lines could drastically change a picture. A splash of color, too. A burst of blue had once changed the picture of Mal's life, and now these two red lines were changing both girls' pictures.

She knew what the people of The Isle were like, which meant she knew what the boys of The Isle were like too. Not in the hands-on way that Evie knew them, but still. Stupid Haircut, Hyena Laugh, What's That Smell, He-Who-Wears-Way-Too-Much-Black, those were the names Mal had come to know some of Evie's dating buddies by. Never had she officially met them, but she knew of them, and she knew that whichever one it was wouldn't care that Evie had been left pregnant. They wouldn't stand by her or offer anything remotely close to an encouraging word to a girl who was clearly so very scared. Mal was no Isle rat, she was the daughter of Maleficent, and the daughter of Maleficent had to be better than those common degenerates Evie associated with.

She  _would_  be better. She'd stand taller and prouder at Evie's side than any of them ever would and offer any word of encouragement Evie needed to hear. The two were best friends, and even though Mal was still trying to figure out what exactly that meant, she knew it meant this.

Two lines drastically changing a picture. In eight months there'd be another little Evie on The Isle, maybe a boy with her smile or a girl with her smirk, maybe another head of blue and a talent for trouble right beside a talent for fashion. Another Evie in the world. Mal chuckled to herself.

Maybe this wouldn't be such a terrible thing after all.


	2. Chapter 2

"Carlos?"

Carlos personally didn't like to think of himself as a nervous, jumpy boy, but the way he leapt at the sound of Evie's voice was rather disheartening.

"Evie, hi!" he smiled when he turned away from his locker and found her standing behind him. "...You okay? You look tired."

"I am tired," Evie sighed.

Tired, and cramping, and just feeling in general like she'd been run down by Cruella De Vil's roadster.

"I'm sorry," Carlos said sympathetically.

"It's fine. I'm fine. Hey, I was just wondering if maybe I could borrow your laptop after school?"

"My laptop?"

Evie nodded, hoping that sweet and understanding Carlos would remain sweet and understanding because she really hadn't thought up a completely foolproof excuse before going into this conversation.

"I had something I needed to look up, and even without wi-fi you've hacked your laptop to be the best and fastest one on The Isle."

Flattery. Even though Carlos was only a friend, it was still unsettling how easily flattery came out of her mouth when a boy was involved. If she'd kept the flattery reined in maybe she wouldn't even be in this horrible mess in the first place. But she obviously knew her stuff, because with a smile and a nod from Carlos, flattery got her everywhere.

"Sure, just meet me back here after your last class."

"...Thank you, Carlos," Evie breathed a sigh of relief.

The skidding screech of shoes rounding a corner was a telltale sound, one that turned the two friends' attention behind Evie in time to catch Mal cutting her way through the crowd. She skidded again, this time to a stop, panting breathlessly with a kind of wild glimmer in her eyes.

"Evie! There you are," she spoke cooly, casually, trying to hide the obvious fact that she'd just done a marathon around Dragon Hall in search of her.

"Here I am," Evie watched curiously as an out-of-breath Mal fought the urge to double over and get her wind back.

"...What's up, Mal?" Carlos questioned, opening his locker to retrieve a notebook and eyeing Mal like she'd lost her mind.

Mal had a scowl ready and waiting for him, Evie's nerdy tech friend who was far too spineless for life on The Isle. Evie's hand on her shoulder stopped her from saying anything vicious, leaving Carlos with just the scowl.

"Mal was just going to walk with me to first period, I forgot to tell her I was making a pit stop. Right, Mal?"

Still lacking the proper amount of air in her lungs, Mal answered with a weak thumbs-up.

"Oh. Got it. Well, I'll see you guys later. Evie, the laptop's yours."

Carlos closed his locker and spun the dial, leaving the girls with a single wave before he walked away.

"...Need a chill pill?" Evie questioned as she watched Mal catch her breath.

"You just wandered off, I didn't know where you went!" Mal snapped in her defense. "You could've been stuck in the bathroom, or crying your eyes out in a stairwell or something!"

"Isle food definitely doesn't do morning sickness any favors," Evie groaned as Mal mentioned bathrooms.

"And the last thing we need right now is someone finding you throwing up your breakfast. So? You doing okay?"

Evie nodded slowly. Mentally and emotionally? No. Physically? Also no, but it would do enough for a nod. Two weeks after being faced with a positive pregnancy test, she was still struggling and fighting to wrap her mind around it. Spent much of her time in a foggy daze, as a matter of fact.

"What's the deal with Carlos' laptop?" Mal asked, starting to walk.

"...I had some things to look up," Evie murmured, head ducked down.

"Like?"

"...Forget it, Mal. It's probably stupid and pointless anyway."

Mal stopped in the middle of the hallway, turned around to face Evie.

"...Stuff about the kid?"

Another weary nod from Evie.

"I don't know what's supposed to happen to me, Mal. I don't know what's considered 'normal'. This is The Isle, the closest thing we have to a healthcare system here is Gaston and his 'five dozen eggs a day keeps the doctor away'."

"Which doesn't do anyone any good when the only doctor here is a voodoo doctor," Mal mused.

"And I doubt very much that the voodoo doctor headmaster cares that I'm pregnant and terrified. It'd just be simpler if I could get onto Auradon's internet, and Carlos' laptop is the only one here that can pick up on it through the barrier."

"...Do you want me there?"

"Yes, Mal. Please," Evie said right away. She didn't think she could get through even a simple internet search right now without Mal at her side.

"Then I guess I can clear some time in my very busy schedule," Mal playfully teased.

Evie wasn't in quite so playful or teasing a mood, still lost inside her own head.

"I can't be the first girl this has happened to, can I?" her voice held octaves of rising panic. "There had to have been others before me and someone who helped  _them,_ right?"

"We're the generation of The Isle's oldest children. There  _was_  no one else before us. You're the first girl this has happened to."

"But I mean, our moms—"

"Were not sixteen when they had us. It's a little different, E."

Leave it to Mal to be that chilling voice of reason. She watched the color appear to drain from Evie's face, as it so often did in her moments of rising panic.

"Look, we'll figure it out. It's still early, we have plenty of time to come up with a scheme," Mal said.

"Plan," Evie flatly corrected.

"Plan, yes. Sorry. Just forget about it until we have our hands on Carlos' laptop."

Evie felt the telltale flips of her stomach churning, nerves and nausea making a terrible combination. Mal knew that look.

"I'll guard the bathroom," she said right away.

"...No, I'm okay."

"Are you sure?"

"...I hope so."

By the end of the school day, Evie was so very much in need of a nap. Laying across the couch at the VKs' hideout, she left the browsing up to Mal, who sat on the floor and leaned back against the sofa while she spent the better part of her afternoon watching a loading wheel spin and spin.

"You know what I think? I think sticking us with crappy internet connections makes  _Auradon_ the evil half of the kingdom," Mal bitterly said.

Evie rolled onto her side to look over Mal's shoulder at the screen.

"I'd much rather be in Auradon right now. All I want is to be in a place with doctors and hospitals and food that doesn't make me throw up just thinking about it. How is  _anyone_  supposed to have a baby in this prison?!"

Mal had a hard time telling what was Evie and what was a mood swing, but either way, she took both of them in stride.

"Obviously it's not impossible. Just...tough. But lucky for you, tough is my middle name."

"Sure it is, Bertha."

Mal stiffened, face twisting into a pout.

"I take it back. With you around,  _this_  is the evil half of the kingdom," she grumbled.

Mal took advantage of the brief break in the spinning of the wheel as soon as she had it, fingers flying across the keyboard and mousepad clicking.

"So what am I looking at?" she asked. "Two weeks? Three?"

"Seven," Evie yawned, hugging a pillow close.

"Seven??"

"I did the math."

Impossible as it sounded, Mal actually supposed she'd prefer to stick with seven weeks. Saying her best friend was almost two months pregnant sent her head and her heart into violently dizzying tailspins.  _That_  just didn't sound right at all.

"Fatigue, check. Cramping, check. Morning sickness, big check," Mal read aloud what her eyes only scanned through. "...Pretty heavy emphasis here on visits to the doctor, E."

"Great. We don't have one of those."

"There has to be someone for us," Mal implored her brain to dig deep and think. "And for the love of all that's unholy, not Dr. Facilier."

"There's no one," Evie's voice was muffled, buried dejectedly into the pillow.

"I'll find someone," Mal stubbornly said. She never took too kindly to being told she couldn't do something.

"Good luck."

"Thank you," Mal was also never deterred by sarcasm. "...E?"

Evie was starting to fall asleep behind her, Mal could hear the way her breathing slowed and deepened. It was the only time now that her face ever showed peace, when her body was shutting down and her consciousness slipped away as she lost herself in pleasant, innocent, dreamlands. For a couple minutes, Mal just watched Evie breathing in and out, eyelids fluttering lightly. Peace.

"Hey Mal!! I'm coming up!!"

She was going to strangle Jafar's son with her bare hands.

Both she and Evie jumped at the sound of Jay's voice echoing up their improvised call box, Evie shooting upright with wide, startled eyes that were quickly overtaken by the terrible heaviness of interrupted sleep. Mal was up on her feet, storming across the room to angrily grab at the call box horn and scream right back down at him.

_"No_  you are not!! Stay out of here, Jay!"

"Come on!" Jay shouted again from the alleyway below, his already loud and commanding voice just amplified through the speaker system. "It's barge day, remember?"

"Then you go!"

"...Mal, it's alright," Evie's yawn was pitiful, and she rubbed her eyes with one loose fist. "Go ahead and go with Jay."

Mal turned the horn away from her on its swivel so Jay couldn't eavesdrop.

"I can't go with Jay."

"I'll be fine, I'm just going to lay here and take a nap."

"...I'll go with him next time," Mal said quietly, abandoning her brief shouting match with Jay and returning to her spot on the floor in front of Evie.

Evie didn't believe it. Mal skipping a day to dig trinkets out of the Auradon barges with her real partner in crime just didn't happen.

"...M, us being in this together doesn't mean your life has to revolve around me."

"My life does not revolve around you. I don't want to hang out with Jay, plain and simple. You being here has nothing to do with it," Mal pulled the laptop back over to her. "Don't flatter yourself, E."

Evie didn't know what else to say. Mal's heels were dug in, and really, Evie was just too tired to argue. Without another word she curled back up on her side and drew her pillow in, finding comfort in hugging it close. Eyes closing, giving in quickly to sleep, a stubborn head of purple was the last thing she saw before everything went black.

Mal didn't want to hang out with Jay. She wouldn't. There were pages and pages and pages to read through, locked behind the computer screen. Week eights, week nines, week tens, and all the weeks after them. Evie didn't know what to expect, or what was normal. Mal didn't either. But what Mal had right now was a laptop, a moment of quiet, and a sweet spot of an internet connection that she would not be taking for granted. What a very scared and anxious Evie needed was an expert.

So Mal would just have to become one.

* * *

Evie being pregnant gave her an improved sense of smell. Evie being pregnant seemed to give  _Mal_  an improved sense of hearing. It was well past Evie's bedtime, yet Mal could hear the sounds of her puttering around wide awake in her room; the creak of the bed, the occasional pacing of feet, the click of the lamp on and off as Evie either debated with or fought against getting some sleep.

All the sounds of a troubled mind.

So Mal left her own bed behind and crept across the darkened hideout to knock softly on Evie's door before letting herself in. She was sitting up in bed, knees drawn to her chest, hair ruffled from tossing and turning.

"When you  _can't_  sleep,  _then_  I get worried," Mal invited herself to climb up onto the bed, crawling in front of Evie and sitting cross-legged.

Evie's eyes were red, and it wasn't from lack of sleep. Mal wondered with a start just how often she had hidden her crying late at night. Evie's watery gaze was cast down on her sheets, on her hands worriedly wringing on top of them.

"...Evie, talk."

She didn't think it would be that easy to get a response, and she was proven wrong.

"...This is going to end so badly," Evie whispered. Her lip quivered.

"Why? How do you figure?"

Two very obvious questions slipping from Mal's tongue, but still.

"M, look at where we are," Evie glanced up as if following her own advice. "This is the Isle of the Lost. There's no one here to do the eight week checkups, or the twelve, or the fifteen. And, even if we miraculously managed to get help from Auradon? We couldn't afford any of it. The Isle doesn't care about us, and Auradon doesn't care about The Isle. They put us here with the garbage and left us here with it, Mal. If they didn't care about our parents' children, why would they care about their children's children?"

All brutally valid points, but Mal didn't quite see what Evie was driving at. So Evie went on, seeing the confusion painted across Mal's face.

"...Mal, it won't be  _if_ something goes wrong, it's going to be  _when_  something goes wrong."

Silent tears running down Evie's cheeks. Again, Mal wondered how long she'd been practicing this trick.

"The Isle is no place for a kid. We're all proof of that. In the back of my mind I had these stupid little thoughts that maybe he or she could have an amazing life in Auradon with a family that wanted to give a child of The Isle a second chance, but a family like that doesn't exist. Not a single one ever came to give any of  _us_  a second chance. And now, now it's all a question of whether I'll even make it far enough to have a baby to begin with."

Mal winced like she'd been physically struck.

"Evie, don't talk like that. It isn't 'when' something goes wrong."

"How can it not be??"

"Because I won’t lose my best friend. Not like that. Look, I know we have the short end of the stick, and there's not much of a light at the end of the tunnel, but for the first time in my life I have to believe that you’ll be okay, that your kid will be okay. It's not...it's not something we know here on The Isle, and my mother would very literally kill me just for ever thinking this...but believing in even the possibility of a happy ending is a very powerful thing."

Evie was astonished to hear those words come out of Mal's mouth. They almost sounded  _wrong_  coming out of Mal's mouth.

"...Where in the world did you ever learn that?" she asked, bewildered.

Mal just shrugged, totally unsure, a shy smile toying with her lips.

"Maybe I read it in a book once."

In a reflex she didn't even know she had, Mal reached out and softly brushed the tears away from Evie's face.

"I can stay in here with you, if you want. Only if you want, E."

"...I want."

Evie tugged the covers aside, scooted over to make room for Mal before they both settled onto pillows and finally, Evie's lamp went off for good.

"Getting a little attached?" Mal smiled in the dark, rolling in Evie's direction.

"What?"

"To your mini-me."

"...What do you mean?"

"You just sound like a concerned mom, worrying about your kid’s future. Not that I'd know what a concerned mom sounds like, but I'd imagine they would sound pretty similar to you."

"Try frightened high schooler."

Evie wasn't up for being called a mom just yet. She really didn't think she'd ever be. She'd just stick with "frightened high schooler" for as long as it was viable.

* * *

As promised, Mal's sticky fingers had been helping to take great advantage of the Evil Queen's occasional outings from her castle. Evie felt more at ease and at home in the hideout when more and more of her things began to pile up in it. Her sewing supplies, the throw blanket from her bed, a favorite pair of pants until the inevitable day when she could no longer fit into them. Mal had spent enough nights and wee early mornings almost passing out on top of Carlos' laptop to know what was up. Evie was ten weeks, and ten weeks meant a moratorium was coming up on some of those tight and curve-hugging clothes of hers.

Amazingly, Evie was less worried about the fashion implications and more worried about what they really meant—soon everyone would be finding out about her little secret. She hadn't seen her mother since the hour before the fateful test, and no doubt the Evil Queen was livid to have her daughter and her short leash unaccounted for after all this time. Evie should've gone back to the castle when she still could, just to show her face once in a while and appease the beast. Probably a pipe dream now, for the growing collection of outfits being shoved to retirement in the very back of the closet was her sign that in just a handful of weeks her face wouldn't be the only thing she'd be showing.

"I have this that you can wear," Mal helpfully said as she spent an afternoon skipping math homework to assist Evie in rearranging her wardrobe.

She was holding up a large maroon t-shirt with tears in the side and shoulder, not stylishly and strategically placed, but simply worn into the fabric with age. First it was Jay's, then it was Mal's, and now, maybe it would be Evie's. The girl had never known the meaning of the words "baggy clothes". She knew baggy, and she knew clothes, but put them together and you utterly lost her. As such, nothing in her attire would do her any good to hide in if and when she decided to put off the secret's reveal for just a few days longer.

"I don't know, Mal. A bland, oversized outfit suddenly thrown onto a fashionista just  _screams_  'I'm pregnant'."

"You know what else screams 'I'm pregnant'? You and a baby bump strutting around Dragon Hall."

"I don't have one right now."

"Well when you do, you'll know where to find this," Mal tossed her shirt suggestion to the side.

"...I'm still not at all ready for people to know," Evie admitted, keeping her hands busy with folding shirts.

"Yeah, well, it's none of their business anyway," Mal folded too. "Nobody's kid but yours."

"And the dad's."

"You mean one of the guys you haven't seen in weeks who hasn't bothered to call on you once? No. Face it E, you're part of The Isle's long and proud tradition of single parenthood."

"...But at least I have you," Evie smiled. "I mean, I know you won't be here forever, but while you are—"

"What do you mean I won't be here forever?" Mal questioned, looking up from her folding.

"M, come on. You're not going to put your life on hold to raise a baby with me."

Mal amazingly had never even given it a second thought.

"No, I wouldn't put my life on hold to raise a baby with you. But I'd put my life on hold to raise  _your_  baby with you."

More and more, Evie felt that Mal was starting to sound nothing at all like herself.

"...I'm not going to ask you to do that, Mal. I can't let you, you have nothing to do with this."

"You're my best friend. That makes me have something to do with it. And besides, putting my life on hold? It's not like I have much of a life right now anyway. Maybe with this I can at least do  _something_  with it."

"...Funny," Evie smiled as she sniffed, conflicting emotions getting the best of her. "My mom would hate to see me like this, and your mom would hate to see  _you_  like this. But then again, I guess that's what happens when a couple of girls get in over their heads."

Mal just nodded, letting silence settle.

"Fun fact?" she broke the silence just as easily.

"What?"

"The baby's about as big as a strawberry right now."

"And how do you know that?" Evie smirked.

Mal actually turned an honest-to-goodness little shade of red just then.

"...I've been reading," she muttered.

"Is that so?"

Mal quickly tried to save herself. An automatic Isle instinct.

"Well you keeping me up all night by flushing the toilet every hour gives me a lot of time to fill," she argued defensively.

"I'm sorry Mal, must be nice not having a baby playing havoc with  _your_ bladder."

"It is, actually, yeah."

They couldn't seriously bicker, not really, and shared in a laugh together.

"...M, there's no way I can ever repay you for everything you're already doing for me," Evie sadly shook her head.

"Don't name the kid Bertha. That's payment enough."

"Deal," Evie giggled. "...Baby names, though. That's terrifying to think about. Makes it all real."

"Clearly why our moms didn't put a lot of thought into our names."

Evie laughed again. She hadn't been doing much of that lately. Mal was glad to hear it once more. She busied herself by taking another pile of clothes that Evie decided wouldn't be fitting her anymore and setting them aside to be put into their own separate dresser drawer.

"I'm not going to have a thing to wear," Evie said miserably. "But I guess I should've thought of that before I got pregnant, right?"

"Right."

* * *

Mal indeed made up her missed outing with Jay when another barge from Auradon came in, dumping off all the kingdom's secondhand bits and baubles—all the kingdom’s  _trash_. Jay and Mal's villainous partnership went way back, so of course his thieving eagle eyes didn't miss the way Mal skipped her usual search for art supplies and cool decorative things in favor of poking through the clothes, the shreds of fabric.

"...Shopping?" he jokingly prodded, rubbing at an ordinary table lamp with the hem of his shirt (one could never be too sure).

Mal ignored him, saving her glare for the pile of junk she was kicking her way through.

"Since when do you give a rip about Auradon's latest and greatest fashions?" he asked again.

Since Evie needed new clothes.

Time spent at her sewing machine designing and piecing together new outfits from Auradon's leftovers would do Evie a world of good. Mal knew this, but Jay, woefully unaware of the whole situation just like everyone else, did not. So Mal kept her mouth shut.

"Jay, give it up. It's a table lamp," was all she said.

Jay clicked out a disappointed "tsk" on the tip of his tongue and chucked the lamp over his shoulder with a crash and a shatter.

"You're no fun anymore," he grumbled.

"Manhandling the furniture doesn't count as 'fun'."

So many perfectly good clothes just tossed out with the trash. Not Mal's style, of course, but not a thing wrong with them. It figured, coming from Auradon, where its people would probably throw out priceless jewels by the bucket because they had more stashed away somewhere in the throne room. Mal wasn't so sure she  _wanted_  to see anyone growing up there.

Yes, Evie had once harbored hope that someone from the mainland might hear of her plight and come to adopt a poor innocent baby into a warm and safe home in Auradon, far from the rotten food and beady eyes and ruthless ways of The Isle. But Auradon wasn't perfect. Sanitary, sure, but not perfect. Auradon was shallow, pompous, judgmental, surprisingly quick to hate for a kingdom that prided itself on goodness. Mal was not one to ever get philosophical, but there was one thing she understood.

She wasn't born evil. She was made that way.

That, they did not understand in Auradon. They left the children of The Isle condemned to the fate of their parents from the very moment they came into the world, and they would condemn Evie's child just the same. If Evie's child was raised in Auradon he or she would come to look upon their roots with shame, to stand high and mighty and judge those on the Isle of the Lost, hate them for being villains, for simply being different.

Hate Evie for being different.

And that was one thing that Mal would never, ever stand for.

"Hey! Snap out of it!" Jay beaned Mal in the head with a wadded up ball of paper, the only soul on the island brave enough to attempt such a thing.

Mal was so distracted and stuck in deep thought that she didn't snap out of it, all she did was wistfully hope that Evie didn't have a boy.

When she came back to the hideout with her backpack of Auradon goodies slung over her shoulder, Evie was nowhere to be found. Which meant that Mal knew exactly where she was.

"...E?" she knocked on the bathroom door. "How's it going?"

"Same as always..." Evie weakly said back. Mal barely heard her.

"Can I come in?" Mal wondered.

"It's unlocked."

Unlocked meant nausea. Locked meant baby on the bladder.

Sure enough, Mal opened the door and found a pale Evie sitting close beside the toilet, head back against the wall and looking like every molecule of energy was concentrated on not throwing up again.

"I have a surprise for you," Mal told her.

"Kind of in the middle of my last surprise, actually."

Mal shook her head and slipped her backpack down her arm just enough to get at the zipper, pulling out wads of clothes from within.

"I'm getting you back in the fashion business," Mal haughtily said.

Some of the light returned to Evie's tired eyes.

"...What?"

"Come on, E. If anyone's going to make maternity clothes stylish, it's you. Listen, obviously you've had way too much on your mind this last month to do your thing, but fashion and Evie go hand in hand. You should be designing and sewing, the things you love to do. Not to mention that little strawberry of yours is going to need  _a lot_ of Evie originals."

More sparkling light dancing in Evie's eyes.

"Baby clothes?" she whispered.

"Plus, I didn't sneak your sewing machine out of your mom's castle in the dead of night for you to leave it sitting here gathering dust."

Mal was used to Evie's crying springing to life on a whim by now; she watched the girl drop a pencil the other day and immediately burst into tears. So she was also used to automatically moving to hug Evie, just to give her something to comfortingly hold on to while she cried it out. Letting her backpack hit the floor and dropping beside her, Mal sat perfectly still as Evie leaned over and threw her arms around her, unable to express in words how much Mal's attention to the little things meant to her.

"...Mal, you have no idea how happy I am that you're here with me."

Well, that was certainly the first time in her life Mal had ever heard  _that._  What was she supposed to say to something like that? "Cool"? "Thanks"? Maybe an outdated "Right on"? No idea. She had absolutely no idea.

"...I'm happy if you're happy."

Whoa. That was not on her list of pre-approved responses. Was it even true?

With the peaceful warmth coming alive inside her as Evie hugged her tight, yes, it was true. Mal's mom was going to absolutely murder her. They ended up just sitting there, Evie's head on Mal's shoulder as she waited for the wooziness to pass.

"...Mal?"

"Hm."

"...I wish this could just stay our secret. People are going to say all sorts of horrible things about me when they find out. My mom's going to try to  _do_  all sorts of horrible things to me when she finds out."

Mal stiffened.

"'Try' being the key word," she flatly said, fist itching to clench at just the thought of it. "Your mom isn't coming anywhere near us, Evie."

"What about  _your_  mom? Can't wait until she finds out there'll be a brand new baby to curse."

Evie was of course only morbidly joking; without any magic on The Isle, Maleficent couldn't curse a fly. But still, Mal couldn't help but bristle a little too personally.

"They aren't going to mess with this!" she snapped.

Evie wasn't expecting such a reaction, lifting her head to eye Mal inquisitively. Mal reined herself in with the curiously confused gaze on her, letting those muscles threatening to tense her fists relax before she went on.

"Snow White and Aurora, you and me, our moms have already had their share of ruining lives. They aren't going to ruin this one. You know what I was thinking about, down at the goblin wharf?"

"...What were you thinking about, Mal?"

"How this is nowhere near an ideal situation, it actually sucks a lot, and maybe you figure this is the worst thing that's ever happened to you, but still you're trying. You're holding it together, and taking it day by day, and I  _just_  saw that smile trying to fight free when I mentioned baby clothes. You're trying, Evie, and no one here is going to take that away from you."

The stunned silence was brief.

"...Sometimes I don't even know who you are anymore, M."

"...Yeah, neither do I," Mal hung her head.

"But I like it," Evie smiled. "Tell me more about how amazing I am."

"...You’re amazing, Evie. You think a life in Auradon is what's best for him or her, but they have you, and I think that already makes them the luckiest kid on The Isle."

"And because they have you."

Mal blushed, clearing her throat like she could clear the emotion away.

"Don't you have dresses to sew or something?" she urged, turning away so Evie couldn't see the pink painting her cheeks.

"Yeah, Mal," Evie hadn't looked so happy in what seemed like quite a while. "I guess I do."


	3. Chapter 3

Mal could practically feel what a mess her morning bedhead had made of her appearance. Waves and strands and knots of purple seemed to weigh heavily on her head like a bristling cat, and she knew she was in desperate need of a mirror. After lazily shuffling about the hideout she let her forehead come to rest on the bathroom door, closing her eyes as if meaning to fall back asleep right then and there.

"Is there a reason you were in there when I woke up twenty minutes ago and you still haven't come out yet?" Mal asked crankily.

"...Yes," Evie timidly said. Her voice was so small.

"Does that reason have anything to do with your head in the toilet?"

"...No."

Another small response. Mal’s eyes opened, her head lifted, grogginess cleared away for fine-tuned alertness to take its place.

"Evie, what's wrong?" she sharply questioned.

"Nothing, Mal, I'm just getting dressed. You can come in."

So Mal did, throwing the door open and walking in. Evie must have had a rare early bird morning, already up and ready for school. She showed off a little for Mal, turning this way and that in her leggings and soft off the shoulder t-shirt.

"What do you think?" Evie wondered, searching Mal's face for a reaction.

Mal already knew, when she saw Evie's heart and crown crest emblazoned proudly on the black shirt.

"That's one of the ones you made," she grinned, glad to see the product of Evie's creative talent back in action.

"Mhm," Evie nodded, apprehensively biting her lip. "Do you like it?"

"Of course."

"I kept it a little loose fitting," Evie explained, looking down at herself and her attire.

"I don't know what you were worried about, loose fitting clothes definitely look good on you."

"Yeah? Well...do you think it's loose enough to hide this?"

Mal's morning was just getting started. Her hair bared a closer resemblance to a tumbleweed than it did to hair, her vision was still blurring in places, and her body was physically gravitating back in the direction of her bed.

Needless to say, she wasn't at all prepared to watch Evie lift her shirt just enough to spring the official arrival of the baby bump on her.

_"...Evie,"_  she breathed, completely surprised. She knew it would be coming eventually, but still, actually seeing it was something else entirely.

"...Yeah. Our little secret isn't so little anymore. But I’m still not ready for everyone to find out, so...yes or no on the shirt?"

Words were registering slowly in Mal's head just then, but eventually she got it.

"Yes," she said. "No one will know."

"For a little while longer, at least. I won't be able to hide it forever," Evie spoke her grim truth aloud.

"You don't need to hide it, you're still beautiful with it."

Mal wasn't accustomed to words spilling out of her mouth without any control whatsoever. An interesting sensation.

"...I'm what?" Evie's eyes were wide at what Mal had said as she let her shirt drop.

That was Mal's cue to shut up, or take it back, or crack some sort of snide remark. Those pesky words of hers had other ideas.

"You're beautiful, and you're doing just fine. You've been worried about what's going to happen if you go through this without any help, but this is your sign that your little strawberry is okay."

Evie looked like she might cry even as a smile overtook her.

"This strawberry isn't exactly a strawberry now, though. You're my expert, how big is twelve weeks?"

"A plum, apparently. Like, an actual plum, not one of the shriveled and fuzzy ones we get here on The Isle. Except I'm not calling it your little plum, that just makes me sound like someone's demented grandmother."

Evie came forward and wrapped her arms around Mal, utterly surprising her with the tenderest of hugs. Holding Mal close, her head buried into the crook of Mal's neck; Mal completely froze, inside and out.

"I'm just glad to hear you call it anything," Evie was fighting back tears, Mal could hear it in her waffling voice. "I'm glad that big bad Mal of The Isle cares so much about me and this crazy twist in my life."

Evie appeared to be making a habit of leaving Mal at a complete and total loss for words. They'd always shared hugs before, even long before an emotional Evie had come to need them on a daily basis, but never had Mal felt anything quite like this one before.

"...We're in this together."

The only thing Mal could manage to say. Evie nodded fervently as she let go of her.

"Strawberry's first day of school," she took a deep and steadying breath. "Fingers crossed."

"Like you said, you can't hide it forever. What are you going to do when people actually start noticing?"

"I don't know. Saying I'm just getting fat isn't exactly much of a Plan B."

"You're a villain, just skip school for the next six months," Mal yawned her way in front of the mirror, fingers combing absentmindedly at her hair. "That way you won't have to deal with what's going to happen if you run into one of your ex-boy toys."

"Please, they were all dropouts long before any of this. No real chance of running into one of them. Thankfully."

"Not that they'd give a rip either way, they're Isle boys. Look at our quote-unquote 'dads'. We never knew them, and they never knew us."

"At least we seem to be doing fine without them," Evie mused. "That's just what happens on an island full of evil, family isn't exactly a big thing."

Evie lifted herself onto the edge of the bathroom counter, done with her morning routine but just wanting to stay close to Mal.

"The kid's better off without a dad anyway," Mal ran the water in the sink, knowing that with The Isle's shoddy plumbing the best she'd be getting was  _"kinda lukewarm"_. "Better off without What's That Smell or Hyena Laugh or...what's one of my other ones?"

"Quasimodo's Reject Cousin."

"Of course, a classic," Mal smirked to herself. "You were always worth a hundred times more than any of them, you're better off without the quote-unquote 'dad' hanging around too."

"Yeah," Evie agreed, absentmindedly kicking her legs out as they dangled over the edge of the counter. "All I really need is you."

"Bingo."

"You're sure I don't look pregnant in this shirt?"

"You look like Evie," Mal didn't even have to take a second glance, letting her fingers play in the stream of water for a moment.

"Okay. I'll let you get ready."

Evie hopped down from the counter in a move that honestly made Mal a little nervous until her rationality came back and reminded her that there was still quite some time left before she had to start treating Evie like she was made of glass.

And boy, was  _that_  going to be an experience.

* * *

 

Mal couldn't stop thinking about it at all that day. Their stop at the lockers before first period, the classes she and Evie shared, passing by Evie in the hallway—all Mal could think about was the tiny bump she'd seen that morning, and everytime she saw Evie her eyes automatically drew down to where she knew it was hiding. It all seemed real now. Worryingly so, terrifyingly so... _awesomely_  so.

Mal didn't know babies. She knew children, with their grubby faces and shrill voices and literal sticky fingers, their lack of respect for personal space and property. Babies were supposed to be smaller versions of that, except louder, shriller, always dripping  _some_  form of goo, and irritatingly incapable of doing a single thing for themselves. But there were babies, and then there was  _Evie's_  baby.

In Mal's head, that made all the difference. Evie's baby was someone she curiously wanted to see, hence all the glances she snuck at Evie's hide and seek tummy.

Come lunchtime, Mal could see the look of relief decorating Evie's face from halfway across the cafeteria. In the dim and murky cafeteria lighting, no less.

"No whispers in the hallway," Evie said as Mal settled next to her at the table. "No stares, either. I don't think anyone's noticed."

"Told you. Good job on the shirt."

Evie allowed herself a proud smile.

Jay had come to join them, letting his tray drop onto the table with a clatter.

"...Aren't you guys eating?" he sat down across from them and noted their lack of lunch trays.

Evie didn't eat at school in fear of nausea catching up to her. Mal didn't eat at school because Evie didn't eat; the last thing she wanted was the smell of her food to send her best friend running. Although Evie had accomplished the amazing feat of going the entire day so far without once feeling sick, still neither of them were up to risking it.

"Not hungry," Mal said bluntly.

"Is anyone, really?" Jay grimaced as he studied the gray mush on his fork. "So, what are you two doing later?"

The girls didn't answer right away, like they didn't quite understand the question.

"...Why?" Mal warily asked one back.

"Why? It's Friday night, Mal. We should be getting into trouble," Jay said with a wicked grin.

Jay's ideas of trouble often tended to involve things like roughhousing, shortcuts across rooftops in the dead of night, scaling high walls after getting chased for pickpocketing, even the occasional swordfight here and there. All things that Mal wanted Evie, in her infamous "delicate condition", absolutely nowhere near.

"...Um, I'll pass, Jay," Evie said. "I started these designs in my sketchbook that I really want to finish."

"Designs?" Jay scoffed. "Seriously? That can't wait?"

"It's an artist thing, you wouldn't understand."

"Pfft," Jay rolled his eyes. "What about you, Mal? Don't back out on me. If we're lucky I bet we can end up looting some great stuff."

"Mal doesn't have anything to do tonight," Evie helpfully said.

Mal cut her eyes sideways at her, making sure Evie definitely saw.

"Mal has a date with her sketchbook too, remember?" she sternly said.

Evie's eyes widened.

"But—"

"Sorry Jay, we're out," Mal didn't let her best friend finish her thought.

"Lame," Jay grumbled under his breath.

"Sorry, Jay," Evie apologized too as she stood up from her seat. "We'll see you later."

Mal took that as her cue to follow, and got up out of her seat too. With everyone at lunch the school's catacomb-like halls were deserted, and Evie felt comfortable enough to speak freely, albeit with a lowered voice.

"M, we've talked about this," she began as she walked.

"What have we talked about?"

"About how you don't always need to drop everything to look after me. Why aren't you going out with Jay? Or going out on your own? All you do now is stay at the hideout with me."

Mal's short laughter was dry.

"No, I don't need to drop everything to look after you. So did it ever occur to you that maybe I  _want_ to?"

"But Mal—"

"No buts. Get it through your head, E. I  _like_  spending this time with you. I like knowing that I'm close by if you need something, that you're not sitting alone and overwhelmed without someone to talk to. If I didn't know any better, I'd say all this crap is your way of trying to get rid of me."

"I'm not trying to get rid of you!" Evie said with a start.

Mal's bright smile just then could've made her melt.

"Kidding, E," she tapped a playful finger to Evie's nose. "So, fake designs to work on when you get back to the hideout, huh?"

"They aren't fake," Evie defensively told her.

"Oh really? Then what exactly have you been working on? You’ve already put together your brand new wardrobe."

"I still have baby clothes to design, don't I?" Evie smugly said.

"...With lots of purple?"

Evie giggled, giving Mal a tiny shove.

"If you want."

* * *

 

"You know, Mal, this would go a lot faster if you told me what we're looking for."

Another barge day at Jay's side, Mal and her childhood partner picking through Auradon's garbage and castoffs together.

"I  _did_  tell you. I need pieces of wood."

"For what? Building a fire? Whose place are we burning down first, yours or mine?"

Mal didn't laugh at his joke. Jay noticed, kicking through the trash at his feet in his search.

"What's with you nowadays, Mal?" he scornfully narrowed his eyes at her, even though she didn't see with her back turned on him.

"Nothing's with me."

"You've been acting weird lately. I don't know what the deal is, but something's way off about you."

Mal's sigh was strained, and annoyed, and probably exactly what Jay was talking about.

"I've had a lot on my mind," she said flatly.

Jay didn't know what to make of that, so he didn't even try. He changed the subject instead.

"Why do I have to tag along over here just to help you look for kindling? I could be digging up stuff for my dad's shop on the other side of the barge."

"It's not kindling," Mal said through clenched teeth. "I need actual pieces of wood and I need  _you_  to help me cart them out of here."

"...Ohh, is it a spinning wheel?" Jay grinned. "That'd be cool, huh? Building your own spinning wheel just to show it off and have some fun freaking people out."

It wasn't that Mal disliked Jay, it was just that his talkative mood was grating on the nerves that were already shot after waking up with a giant thundercloud over her head that morning. She just wanted to search for what she needed in peace. Jay just wanted to pry and ramble and annoy, most definitely because he knew it was getting a rise out of Mal.

"What else?" he went on, keeping a fiendish eye on her to watch how she tensed at the sound of his voice. "Catapult? Trebuchet? Hey, what if we build this giant wooden dragon and send it to Auradon with all of us hidden inside? Then, when everyone's asleep, we jump out and—"

"It's a crib, okay?!" Mal finally snapped, whirling around to face Jay with a horrible glare.

He wasn't expecting that. At all.

"...A  _crib?"_

Mal let out a heavy and trying exhale as she pinched the bridge of her nose, thinking she might be inheriting one of Evie's headaches. She moved closer to Jay then, stepping her way carefully over all the junk. She made sure to point a threatening finger at him before she even launched into her mini-tirade.

"Look, you're a thief, you understand the importance of keeping a secret. Also, I know where you live. So believe me when I tell you that if you breathe a word of this to anyone, your own father won't even recognize you by the time I get through with you."

Jay was relatively unfazed.

"Breathe a word of what?" he wondered.

No going back now.

"...Evie is pregnant," she quietly said.

She knew Jay. Daresay she even trusted him. Threat or no threat, he wouldn't tell. Letting Jay in on the secret for the sake of going along with her plan today was as good as letting no one in on the secret.

But wow, Mal didn't even know Jay was capable of that much wide-eyed shock.

_"What??_  No way!!"

He was waiting for something like Mal's evil smile and a "Gotcha!", or maybe Mal breaking down into laughter, unable to keep a straight face any longer. No such luck.

"...Wow, she's really—? ...Wow, Mal," he composed himself as much as he could, brushing hair back out of his face. "Whose is it?"

Mal scowled.

"Evie's."

"No, I know that, I meant—"

"Yeah, I get it. You meant who the father is. But just because there's a guy on the other end, doesn't make it his. She doesn't know, her mother forced her into seeing too many different guys for her to be sure which one it is. Not that it matters. This is Evie's kid, nobody else's."

"...How long have you known?"

"As long as she's known. She's three months, Jay."

"Wow..."

Jay couldn't find the motivation to stand up anymore, dropping onto a soggy cardboard box that threatened to buckle under his weight. Mal's anxious energy started her going in a pace, a careful pace back and forth so she wouldn't trip over anything.

"And this morning I woke up thinking my biggest problem was the hideout not being babyproof, but the hideout isn't baby  _anything_ , Jay. Babies need cribs, and high chairs, and—"

"Wait," Jay held up a hand, cutting Mal off. "Evie's going to live at the hideout with you and raise a baby there? Seriously? Mal, you two don't know a thing about taking care of kids!"

"Sure we do. We'll just do the exact opposite of everything our moms did," Mal said with a bitter edge.

"Come on. This is crazy, and you know it. Babies need ridiculously annoying amounts of attention around the clock. And all they're good for is crying. If you so much as hold them the wrong way, they cry, and—"

"And this is Evie we're talking about," Mal's voice, stance, demeanor; all of it suddenly softened as her pacing feet came to a stop. "She's alone in this without me, and her head is already screaming all those things you just said ten times louder than you could ever scream them. Maybe she's drowning and there's no chance of rescue, but if I were her, I'd much rather drown with a friend at my side than drown alone. So, Evie's baby needs a crib. Are you going to help me with one or not?"

Jay knew that Mal had lost it. Two sixteen year old children of evil trying to raise a kid on an island prison? Mal had cracked, it was a bonafide fact. But darn it all, even without fists she still made a convincing argument.

"...Does your mom know you've gone this soft?" he jeered.

"Zip it, Jay."

* * *

 

Mal stood right there at Evie's side in the morning as they looked into the cracked bathroom mirror together. Now it was obvious. There wasn't a thing in Evie's wardrobe that could keep the eyes off of her now. Her stomach jutted out just enough to draw attention, a smooth little curve stretching the bottom of her shirt.

"...You have a fruit for me, don't you?" Evie bleakly stared at her reflection in the mirror.

"An orange," Mal nodded, watching Evie's reflection too. "Baby's as big as an orange."

Today was the day. The secret would be out.

"...Mal, it's not like I've never had bad things said about me before. I've been called shallow, empty-headed, a misfit...other things I don't want to tell you because I know you'd set out to find and strangle the ones who said them..."

"Consider them strangled."

"But I don't understand why this is so different. Why I'm so afraid of hearing what they'll say at school when I've heard it all before."

"...It's because this time, you're afraid that they might be right."

Evie turned to Mal, making the mighty effort to tear herself away from her reflection.

"It was an accident, Evie, you didn't mean for it to happen. You made a mistake. And because you slipped up, you think it's proof that the terrible things they said about you are true."

"Aren't they? Just a little bit?" Evie worriedly questioned.

"No, they're not. Not in the slightest. It doesn't matter what anyone says or does today, you know who you are. You know how great you are."

A shy smile was coming through, breaking free from the dark clouds churning around Evie.

"...I guess I am pretty great."

"And, just like I predicted, still ridiculously pretty. Seriously Evie, what  _is_ that?"  

A shy smile graduated into actual laughter.

"That's the morning sickness and exhaustion finally on their way out," Evie said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, your mini-me has a lot of apologizing to do for that when she gets here."

"...She?" Evie softly repeated.

Mal didn't even realize what she'd said, not until she caught Evie's wide eyes on her and began to wonder  _"What's her deal?"_

"...Oh. Well, yeah. It should be a she. Because boys just wind up turning out like Jay, and the last thing we need on The Isle is another Jay," Mal taunted. "What we need is another Evie."

Evie's hand settled on the small and round shape of her stomach, something it so far had never, ever, done before.

"Aunt Mal's put a lot of thought into this," she laughed a little.

Aunt Mal. Mal had taken a punch to the chest once or twice in her life. This felt like the very nice, very warm version of that.

"...Evie?" she took a deep breath. "Can I...?"

Evie saw Mal's hand hovering warily, unsure.

"...You want to, M?" she asked, her voice almost a whisper.

"Yeah...yes."

So Evie carefully took Mal's hand, gave it a little squeeze, and let it come to rest on her stomach.

"Does it feel weird?" Evie asked, worriedly biting her lip.

Mal shook her head, slowly.

"No. Feels like my best friend has someone in there that I want to meet."

"...Maybe I want to meet her too. At first I wasn’t sure I’d ever want to, I was just too concerned with how impossible this all was. I still am, to be honest, but...she's got me curious."

"She's a fascinating little strawberry, that's for sure," Mal let her hand fall away. "I'm gonna miss her being our secret though, I love keeping up a good lie."

"It  _was_  pretty evil, wasn't it?" Evie agreed with a grin.

"The baddest of them all. Well...I'm ready if you are."

Evie nodded.

"Ready," she said. She wasn’t exactly convincing, but time was up. School awaited.

She and Mal left the hideout together, footsteps echoing off the metal of the stairwell outside as they descended down to the alleyway below and started in the direction of Dragon Hall.

"...You know, not every boy turns into a Jay. Sometimes they turn into a Carlos," Evie mused, calling to mind their conversation mere minutes ago.

"Like that's a step up," Mal cruelly scoffed.

"It is!"

"Whatever you say, E."

* * *

 

It all went exactly as Evie imagined it would.

And she imagined the worst.

The stares, glares, and whispers started the second she and Mal walked through the doors. Evie immediately wished she'd taken Mal up on her offer of Jay's amazingly oversized old shirt. Groups of girls pointed, then turned to huddle and whisper amongst themselves. Groups of boys snickered and made obnoxious "Oooh!" sounds as Evie passed, all while she kept her head ducked down and stuck close to Mal's side as they made their way to their lockers.

"Ignore them," Mal firmly said as they stopped at Evie's locker first.

"Easier said than done."

Funny how the Evil Queen had messed up Evie's head in so many different ways. Instilling so much pressure in her to please and cater to boys that Evie went and slept with all of them yet also instilling the need to care about everyone's opinion of her did not make the best of combinations.

"...What are they thinking of me right now?" Evie fretted, hand on her locker door but eyes cast out across the hall.

"Who cares?"

"I care, Mal!"

"Why? Why is it so important to you?? Why do you obsess over this like it's some huge flaw and need  _everyone_  to still think you're the fairest of them all?"

Mal was shouting, a temper flaring out of nowhere as she too strained over the whispers and jeering laughter directed at Evie.

"...You wouldn't understand," Evie said, trying to stay brave and keep her lip from quivering in front of Mal.

"I understand that your mother is a lunatic, and that you're not going to be any good to this kid if you keep a lunatic trapped inside your head. Let it go, Evie. It happened, it's done, and everyone knows."

Mal realized her harsh words, her sharp tongue, but didn't know how to dull either of them and still get her point across.

"...Come on. I'll walk you to class," she said.

Evie took her binder from her locker and clutched it tight, wanting more than anything in that moment to just disappear and hide away from the world forever.

And as bad as Evie thought she had it that morning, at least she had Mal by her side. Turned out that wicked and weaselly souls grew much much braver when the daughter of Maleficent was nowhere to be found.

"Well, I can only guess what  _you've_  been up to."

Evie didn't even know her. Come third period, she'd gone to make another stop at her locker, and she didn't even know this girl that had come to torment her.

"Bringing along another street rat to wander The Isle? Good job."

Evie pretended to be very interested in the goings-on inside her locker. Pretended not to hear a single word.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" the girl spun Evie around with a hand on her shoulder. No, Evie didn't know her at all. "You know you don't get to act all high and mighty and fancier than the rest of us now, right? _"_

Evie would act as high and mighty as she wanted, managing to bravely and proudly hold her head up even though the feeling twisting and tightening in the center of her chest threatened a flood of tears.

"How about we meet somewhere in the middle and I act like I'm listening to you?" she managed to sharply say.

"Oh, so you don't listen," the girl's lip twisted in a sneer. "That makes sense. If you were any good at listening you might've thought twice before you went and turned into mommy's little slut."

Evie jumped at the booming rattle that shook the air as the girl was suddenly and violently slammed back against the row of lockers.

"Something to say?" Mal asked, fists curled tight around the girl's jacket collar.

"M-Mal!! Hey! How's it g-going?" she had the audacity and lack of self-preservation to speak to the daughter of Maleficent as if they were friends.

"Don't make me ask again," Mal warned, grip clenching even tighter.

The girl turned very pale before their eyes.

"...I was just leaving," she said.

"You forgot to say goodbye."

Mal drew back one fist, knuckles aimed and ready.

"Mal! ...Don't, it's not worth it," Evie murmured.

Oh, how Mal was very displeased with just letting her go, but let her go she did, watching with fire in her eyes as she scampered off down the hall and around the corner like a street rat herself.

"Seemed pretty worth it to me," Mal growled.

"...Just forget about it. I'm okay."

"Heard Mother Gothel was giving you crap in your Selfishness 101 class, too."

"Mal, you can't beat up a teacher."

"Physically, I can."

"Mal..." Evie sadly shook her head. "Don't. I'll...I'll ignore it, just like you said."

"Yeah, well, now I'm not so sure  _I_  can ignore it."

Mal was glaring in the direction the scrawny street rat had taken off in.

"Look, I'll just see you at lunch, okay?" Evie said stiffly, itching with the urge to move on. "Carlos and I will meet you in the cafeteria."

"...Okay, Evie."

Closing her locker perhaps a bit rougher than necessary, Evie left Mal behind without another word, and she too hurried away to vanish around a corner.

Evie's waning morning sickness meant that Mal grudgingly picked up a tray at lunch, piled high with another medley of gray mush. All she could do was swirl it around with her fork, waiting for Evie to join her. It was Jay who appeared first, announcing his arrival with a sigh.

"The whole school's talking about it," he grimly said. "And when classes are over, the whole island will be talking about it."

He sat down across from Mal at the table.

"...It's none of their business," Mal spoke through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, so you keep saying. But I mean, you're right, Evie doesn't deserve this."

"...Jay, what am I going to do?"

Words once whispered to Mal just as frightened and fearful as she herself was whispering them now.

"What do you mean?" Jay asked.

"...I just want to protect her."

Jay frowned.

"Not very villainous of you."

"I know. I know! I know there's something seriously wrong with me!" Mal was unraveling by the second. "I know this shouldn't be any of  _my_  business either, that if I were really my mother's daughter I'd be laughing and whispering with the rest of them, but Jay, I can't. I just—"

She stopped right there as her eyes locked onto Carlos, drawing towards the table with his backpack hanging off of one shoulder and a tray of his own horrid slop in hand.

"...Where's Evie?" she demanded before he even had a chance to pull out a chair.

Carlos froze.

"I thought she was with you," he said in confusion.

"I thought she was with  _you."_

"She told me that you and her were going to meet us at lunch."

"She told me that  _you_  and her were going to..."

Gears clicked and whirred in Mal's head.

And then she was gone.

Every dark corridor, every room, every door, there was not a single place she didn't look, calling out shouts of  _"Evie? Evie!!"_  all the way. It was burned into her mind, burned like a searing brand on her skin—the way Evie looked as she left Mal at the lockers, the trembling mask just barely containing the cascade of pained tears that had to have been blazing in her chest, blinding her eyes. Mal didn't know if it was fear or racing feet making her heart thrum in her chest, and she didn't quite care either way.

She would not let Evie cry alone.

A very sick feeling seized her when she finally found her outside, out in the graveyard that ringed the school. The sight of Evie huddled against one of the broken tombstones, hugging her knees and sobs shaking her from head to toe—it turned Mal's blood to ice in her veins. Evie didn't even notice her best friend's approach, not until Mal dropped to her knees in front of her and fought to figure out what to say.

"...Evie, don't cry. I'm here," Mal's voice cracked just the slightest.

Evie came in close, following the sound of Mal's scared voice, and Mal hugged her tighter and more fiercely than she ever thought she'd dare. Evie's crying muffled with her head against Mal's chest and protective arms around her, but still it was one of the most painful things that Mal ever had to hear.

"...E, I think I've figured out why it hurts so much," Mal softly began. "It's not because you think they're right about all the things they say about you. It's not because you think you're bad...I think it's because you're good. And this is what happens to good on The Isle. Everyone here takes it, and breaks it, and tears down anything that could ever be good. But not you. I won't let them."

Mal tucked a gentle hand under Evie's chin and lifted her tear-streaked face.

"But you have to help me, E," she said. "You have to say something for me."

"...Say w-what?" Evie cried.

"...The strength of evil is good as none, when stands before three hearts as one."

"Mal, what does that even mean?"

"It means that we're done being friends, Evie. Right here, and right now...we're a family. You, me, and her. On an island prison full of people who only care about themselves, there's no way they can stand up to the power of family."

Mal was relieved to see, hear, and feel that Evie's crying was slowly beginning to quell.

"...The strength of evil is good as none, when stands before three hearts as one," Evie repeated.

"So no matter what anyone says or how anyone makes you feel, you have a family here, a family that cares about you. We're on your side, E. Count on it. And you know what? I think I’m done with school today."

"...Yeah, Mal. Me too."

Cutting out early was indeed a treat, the hideout nice and quiet after the incessant and never-ending noise and chatter heard at Dragon Hall.

Nice and quiet until the end of the day when Jay's voice came thundering up the call box and through the horn on the other end.

"Mal! Are you really going to stay up there and make us do all the heavy lifting?!"

Mal got up from the couch, leaving Evie's side to talk to Jay from her end of the speaker system.

"What do you mean 'us'?" she questioned.

"Carlos is here."

Carlos' "Hi" was heard somewhere in the background.

"Oh sure, like he's going to be any help," Mal rolled her eyes.

"Standing right here, Mal."

"...What are you guys talking about? What heavy lifting?" Evie wondered.

"Heavy lifting I could've sworn those knuckleheads could do on their own. Evie, sit. Stay right there, I'll be back in a second."

She wasn't any less confused as Mal walked out, apparently going to meet the boys down in the alleyway. But she was comfortable, and Mal said she'd be right back, so.

Nice and quiet was again interrupted by an incredible racket banging its way up the stairwell, something akin to a wild elephant deciding to invite itself inside. Evie heard Mal barking orders, Jay barking contradicting sets of orders, and poor Carlos trapped somewhere in the middle. By the time the three of them made it back into the hideout with the object of their "heavy lifting", the metallic clanging of the staircase was bouncing around Evie's head like a pinball.

"Here's a joke for you," Mal panted as they shuffled their way inside, catching her breath while shooting glares at Jay and Carlos. "How many villains does it take to move one measly crib?"

Oh, how Evie gasped. Gasped and stood from the couch only to freeze in place as if utterly paralyzed. They  _had_  toted in a crib, Jay carrying one end with Mal and Carlos on the other before they set it down in the first empty space they could find. It was a mismatch of wood, some dark like mahogany, some light like birch, some pieces thick and sturdy and some glossed with a fancy finish while other pieces looked positively ancient and sun-bleached. The blue cushion on the inside appeared practically brand new, the softest and cleanest thing Evie had perhaps ever seen on The Isle. The crib was scraped together with leftovers and a little uneven in places, but Evie couldn't take her eyes off of it.

"Jay and I aren't exactly Geppeto," Mal spoke her words as an apology. "But we tried, Evie."

Evie came forward like she was in a trance, reaching out to studiously run a hand along the railing, the headboard, the footboard. Not a single splinter to be found.

"How did you... _when_  did you...??" Evie marveled.

"Evie, you sleep like a log now. It’s not that hard to get past you. I sneak out in the middle of the night and peek in your room when I come back to find that you haven't moved an inch," Mal chuckled.

It clicked in Evie's head then, how this was something Mal and Jay had been committing themselves to working on, not something they threw together at the last minute.

"Then...Jay? You knew?" she realized.

"Mal filled me in. I didn't know all along, just these last few weeks. A secret's safe with a thief," Jay grinned.

"I guess it is," Evie agreed with a little laugh. "...What's this?"

Evie traced her touch along a distantly familiar design etched into the headboard. Mal's face furrowed into a bitter pout.

"Okay, look, drawing and woodcarving are not the same skill, and I wish someone would've told me that  _before_  I tried carving a picture of a strawberry into this thing," she sternly crossed her arms.

Evie could see it now. It  _was_  a strawberry.

"...Do you like it, E?" Mal prodded.

Evie wiped at her eyes, wiped away the pooling tears.

"...I love it," she whispered.

Carlos approached her with a sweet smile, taking his backpack off his shoulders and unzipping it.

"No one let me in on the secret, so I didn't exactly have time to shop for presents," he joked. "But I do have this."

He handed Evie his laptop, and she carefully took it, not quite following.

"What's this for?" she asked.

"It's yours now, Evie."

"...What?? Carlos, I can't take this from you."

She hurriedly tried to hand the laptop back, but Carlos gently pushed it away.

"Yes you can, nowadays you use it even more than I do. You  _need_  it more than I do. New moms have a lot of questions, and you're gonna need answers. Besides, in a little while you'll have baby names to look up," he said brightly.

There were people who mocked and ridiculed when they saw Evie with a baby bump, people who pointed accusing fingers and thought her a screw-up, a slut, lower than dirt.

And then there were people like Mal, who felt her tummy with the gentlest and most curious of touches. People like Jay, who could easily spill a secret for bit of villainous fun but chose instead to guard that secret with an iron fist. And people like Carlos, who happily gave up their lifeline, their one and only escape from the harsh realities of The Isle, all because somewhere out there was a terribly lost girl who needed a lifeline too.

Mal knew that Evie was going to cry. She'd grown to not only be able to see it on her face, but feel it in the air, too. Her arms were the first ones around Evie, holding her soothingly even though they were such happy tears.

A hug. Carlos had always wondered what those were like, and rushed right in, throwing his arms around Mal and Evie. It was so nice, and he felt so safe, safer than he'd ever felt in his entire life, just letting his eyes fall shut and a smile paint his face. Jay had no idea what to make of any of it, watching them all like they'd utterly lost their minds. But he was intrigued, and not one to be left out of a party, so his strong grip came last, huddling in and hugging all three of them.

It was the first time that the Isle of the Lost had ever seen something so close to peace.

"...If either of you boys are smushing the baby right now you are in  _so_  much trouble," Mal warned.

Maybe Evie had been wrong all along. She didn't need hospitals and fleets of doctors to get her through this, schedules and appointments and tests upon tests. She needed help, yes, but with all of it nonexistent on The Isle there was only one thing there that would truly see her through to the end.

Family. All she needed was family. And that, she most certainly had.


	4. Chapter 4

Evie felt so silly doing it, she'd never let Mal find out.

The crib found a home in Evie's room, close to her bed, and before she tucked herself in that night she wandered over in her pajamas, peering in over the railing at the so-blue cushion. Imagining what it would be like to watch a baby girl or baby boy fall fast asleep there. She already knew the exact sort of teasing smirk Mal would wear if she knew. The two had already said goodnight, and after a few more minutes of being lost inside her own head, Evie went to pull her covers back and crawl underneath, reaching out only to turn off the lamp on her end table.

Mal had been right, Evie did sleep like a log now, so often slumbering straight through the night the moment her head hit the pillow and she rolled onto her side. Troubled thoughts were what usually carried her off to sleep, but tonight, amazingly, there were pleasant thoughts to shut her eyes to. A crib built by friends. A baby safe and sound inside. Getting lost in a group hug. Mal's hand on her stomach.

When she opened her eyes hours later to a darkened room it was like coming out of a wonderful dream, she felt she might actually have a smile on her face as she stretched a little and buried herself deep under the covers once more as she tried to find her comfortable spot again. It was a nice relief to wake up in the middle of the night without a pressing trip to the bathroom being the culprit. The freedom to simply settle back in, shut her eyes, and fall asleep once more.

"...So it's true, then."

Evie shot up in bed so fast with a gasp that utterly took her breath away, leaving only a sharp pain in the center of her chest and freezing numbness running through her veins. She didn't need light. She didn't need a panicked "Who's there??" She didn't need a single thing at all to recognize the sight of her mother standing over the crib, a dainty hand slowly running the length of the railing.

"...M-Mommy?" Evie clutched the covers tightly to her like she meant them to act as her shield. "How did you—? ...Mal? Mal!!"

Evie fearfully screamed out her name, hoping and praying to call her forth from the other end of the hideout and bring her running.

"You won't find Mal here," the Evil Queen flatly said, studying the crib in the dark like it was one of her many spellbooks of days gone by.

This couldn't be real. Evie  _had_  to have been having a nightmare.

"M-mom, what are you doing here?" she demanded. So cold. Trembling  _so_ much.

"...I had to see for myself, didn't I?"

It happened blindingly fast. The lights flashing on, piercing Evie's eyes, rendering her utterly helpless as the Evil Queen stormed forward to rip the sheets away from her with a claw-like grip. She cast her eyes on Evie's far-too-round stomach in utter disgust, all while Evie scrambled to blink her vision back and hide herself again with the covers, a pillow,  _anything_  to keep that burning gaze off of her.

"Evie, you  _fool!"_  the Evil Queen spat.

"...How am I a fool, mom? Isn't this what you wanted? How could it not be, when all you did was send me running after those disgusting boys and told me to do whatever I had to do to win their favor?!"

"And now look at you!  _Pregnant,_  Evie! What prince will ever take you now?! Fat, hideous, a child at your side screaming its ugly little head off?!"

"You mean the way you're screaming  _your_  ugly little head off right now?"

A sudden surge of immense bravery in the shadow of her mother that earned her a stinging slap across the face as her bed proved to be no safe haven from the Evil Queen's advances. Evie tumbled out of her reach with a little roll, hand pressed to her cheek as she got to her feet and made the rickety bed a barrier between them.

"...Okay mom, you've seen for yourself, right? Now you can go," Evie's stern words were spoken through quivering lips as she rubbed her sore cheek.

"And try to live down the pregnant princess ruining my regal standing? Ha! I hardly think so."

"I don't care about your standing!" Evie shouted. "This is  _my_  life we're talking about!"

"Not anymore, not when that thoughtless indiscretion is born," her mother pointed to Evie’s stomach.

"...My son or daughter is  _not_  an indiscretion."

The Evil Queen rolled her eyes, curled her lip in an ugly sneer.

"For pity's sake. Your son or daughter? Stop being ridiculous, as if you have any attachment to this."

"I didn't used to, but I'm starting to. More and more every day," Evie defensively said. "It was hard to do when I knew people like you would just tell me it was all a huge mistake, but it's not a mistake. It's only an accident, and sometimes accidents lead to really amazing things."

"And sometimes accidents solve problems, Evie dear."

The chill that seized Evie was a terrible, terrible one indeed.

"...What is  _that_  supposed to mean?" she asked in a whisper, pressing herself back against the wall.

"You might find out. You might not. Who's to say?"

How Evie desperately wanted this to be a nightmare.

"...Get out, mom," she pointed a shaky finger towards the door.

"Villains have a penchant for firstborns, Evie. Remember that."

"I said get out!!" Evie screamed.

Her screams did the trick the second time around, for with the pounding of footsteps and the crashing of doors, there was Mal. Not clad in pajamas, but dressed, having come back to the hideout after time on the streets to find the road sign knocked aside and the guarding gate wide open. She didn't know who or what to expect as she sped up the stairway to ensure that Evie was okay, but oh, how it certainly wasn't this.

"...What is she doing here?" she initially addressed the question to Evie before immediately deciding she wanted an answer straight from the source. "What are you doing here?!"

"She was just leaving," Evie quietly mumbled.

Mal took note of Evie, back against the wall like a cornered animal, one cheek tinged red. And fire burned within.

"...What did you say to her?" Mal's voice was dangerous as she demanded of the Evil Queen. "What did you  _do_  to her?!"

Mal lunged from her spot in the doorway before she even got a response. The Evil Queen didn't budge one bit, and Evie hurried forward to hold Mal back.

"Mal, just let her go! Let her leave."

Mal absolutely hated this pattern of letting people walk away without getting exactly what was coming to them, but after her stance shifted her to stand protectively in front of Evie, she did just that.

"...If you come near her again you'll wish my mom had banished you to your castle for  _another_  ten years," Mal left the Evil Queen with one biting warning.

And with her head held high, carrying herself with a haughty and of course regal posture, Evie's mother simply walked out, walked out the way she'd walked in to torment and torture Evie in the first place.

Mal didn't even realize she'd been holding her breath until a massive exhale escaped her when she finally heard the sound of the gate closing down in the alleyway.

"Evie, what is this??" Mal spun around and cupped her hand to Evie's cheek, carefully passing her thumb back and forth over the red of her skin like she meant to soothe it away with her touch alone.

"...My mother's hello."

Mal closed her eyes and gave a shaky sigh as she leaned in to rest her forehead against Evie's. The two of them were pressed so very close.

"I couldn't sleep, Evie. I just went out to wander around, I didn't think anyone..."

"I didn't either," Evie assured her, remembering how screaming for Mal had been her very first instinct.

"Are you okay?" Mal's eyes shot back open, and she stepped away to check her best friend over head to toe.

"...I was wishing it was all a bad dream, but yes, I'm okay."

"Your little strawberry has had enough of The Isle’s villains today."

"...I think I have too," Evie's eyes grew sad and weary.

"Sleep with me, we'll both feel better."

Evie cast her sad and weary eyes across the bedroom.

"Could you maybe...sleep in here instead?" she softly asked. "I want to stay near the crib."

Mal put on a shrewd smirk to hide the fact that her heart was melting.

"That old thing?" she scoffed.

"That old thing."

"You realize there's no one in it yet, right?" Mal taunted.

"Not yet, but someday. Doesn't hurt to practice."

Mal allowed the smirk to fade into a smile.

"Sure thing, Evie. I'll go change."

When Mal was gone Evie found herself gravitating to the crib in question, staring into it with a steady and curious gaze. Not yet, but someday.

"...She won't hurt you."

Evie's hand on her stomach as she spoke was all anyone needed to know who she'd suddenly decided to talk to.

"Mal won't let her hurt me, and I won't let her hurt you. She can try...and I'm afraid that she will...but it won't do her any good. Not against this family. I'm still learning, and still confused...not exactly sure how I feel about you yet, but I know that I don't want to see anything happen to you. Maybe I can't be the best mom ever on the Isle of the Lost, but if you'll just give me a chance to try...maybe I can be better."

Yes, Evie decided, running her other hand along the soft cushion of blue and thinking again of that baby boy or girl drifting off to sleep.

She could be better.

* * *

 

"What about now?" Mal shoved a tattered pillow behind Evie, its stuffing peeking through at the corners.

"No."

"And what about  _now?"_  Mal propped a second pillow behind her.

"M, it's not because of the way that I'm sitting," Evie managed a laugh in spite of the dull ache in her back.

"But you're not even that big yet, how can your back be hurting already?"

"What, all your research on the magic laptop never prepared you for this?" Evie smiled to herself, bringing her attention back to her sketchbook as a Sunday afternoon on the couch had her idly tracing out new designs.

"I’m just stating a fact. You’re not that big yet."

Mal got up to fidget with the tv set, whacking it with an irritated palm to try and get a little  _less_  static from the perpetually staticky picture.

"It's bad enough that the royals keep us trapped here, do they really have to leave us with no tv too?" Mal grumbled, only partly to herself.

"You say that exact same thing about the wi-fi."

A lack of quality programming wouldn't be as big of a deal if they weren't confined inside the hideout for the majority of their time, and they wouldn't be confined inside the hideout for the majority of their time if it weren't for Evie's mother. Jay and Carlos had of course come that very next morning after her little surprise visit to help work on the hideout's entrance, devising a whole new system of pulleys, levers, and gates to keep out the average villain with a throwing arm and a "Danger: Falling Rocks" sign. Only the four villain kids knew how to make their way through the improvised security system now; anyone else who tried would draw the VKs' attention with their struggle to get a foot in the door long before they ever had a chance. Out on the streets, however, there were no guarantees, no gates to duck behind or doors to lock tight should the Evil Queen have a wicked plan.

Mal liked to believe it was all a bluff; on The Isle, the Evil Queen had no magic, no poison apples, not even a squad of goons to send Evie's way seeing as Mal's mother was the one who commanded all the island's power, all its fear. The only thing Evie's mom had was an icy glare and cryptic words, but still, when it came to Evie, Mal didn't like to take the risk. So, long hours in the hideout it was. Not that Mal had ever entertained or approved of the tyrannical idea of putting her best friend in a protective bubble, but well, here they were.

She was just so sure it did neither of them any good to stay so cooped up. School and hideout, school and hideout, back and forth, it was all they ever saw lately.

"Evie?"

"Hm?"

Mal gave up on the tv and dropped back beside Evie on the couch, reclining herself so that her head laid very carefully in Evie's lap and her feet were propped up over the armrest.

"What would we be doing if we were in Auradon right now?" she asked. Just a little game of imagination to stave away the stagnating boredom.

Evie, forced to set her sketchbook and pencil aside by the sight of Mal's face peering up at hers, thought it over.

"...I don't know, Mal. This?" Evie laughed. "Why would  _you_  ever be thinking about Auradon?"

"Because you think about Auradon. And the more that time goes by, the more I think about it too. The Isle is not the place for us to be, Evie."

"It's not much of a place for anyone to be, is it?" Evie sighed.

"Except for our parents. They were the ones this prison was made for. They deserve to be here, we don't," Mal seriously mused.

"...If only the kingdom could see it that way."

Mal still knew the kingdom and its people were flawed, really and truly. But at least Auradon had fresh food. Warm beds. Heat in the winter and cool air in the summer. Mal very much did not want to think about it, of a little baby shivering in its crib come its first Isle winter. Mal and the others were living proof that children could survive on The Isle, yes.  _Could_  survive.  _Could_  make it through cold Isle winters. That didn't mean she wanted to see one try.

"So, what would we be doing if we were in Auradon right now?" she asked again, shaking those horrible thoughts from her mind.

"...You and I would be out to lunch," Evie began with a big smile. "Eating everything in sight. Because Auradon has good food, I don't have morning sickness, and there's a very good excuse for me to eat for two."

"Pizza and ice cream and hamburgers and an entire dessert table..." Mal counted them off on her fingers.

"Fruit that isn't fuzzy and apples that aren't poisoned...oh Mal, I'd love to be there, even if it was only for a visit. I hate the thought of any child having to start a life here, let alone my own."

"Your kid definitely deserves better," Mal nodded in Evie's lap.

"...Do you think we'd even be talking about any of this at all if I hadn't gotten pregnant? Do you think we'd ever want a life outside of The Isle?"

A fair question.

"It would've crossed our minds eventually," Mal figured. "Our parents were all grown up when they were put here. We're just teenagers, E, and teenagers can only go for so long eating trash before they start wanting pizza and ice cream."

Evie's amused giggles jostled Mal where she lay, bouncing her head a little in a way that she didn't mind in the slightest.

And then they both felt something that wasn't a bounce at all.

Mal rocketed upright, eyes huge and staring straight at Evie.

"...Did you feel—?"

"I did," Evie nodded right away.

Mal put a hand on Evie's tummy, the gesture suddenly automatic.

"Laugh again," she said.

"Say something funny."

"Gaston writing a self-help book."

That did it, wresting another round of giggles from Evie.

And another kick from the little strawberry nestled under Mal's palm.

"Was that her?" Evie marveled with a gasp.

"...That was her. She knows it's you, E, she’s grown enough that she can hear your voice now."

"Can she hear yours??"

"Yeah, she can hear mine too," Mal nodded.

"M, that's..."

Mal flashed her a grin.

"Kind of like magic, isn't it?"

That's what it was.

"Magic," Evie breathed.

Magic indeed. Seemed such a thing wasn't entirely missing from the Isle of the Lost after all.

"You know, the way we keep talking about it being a girl there's almost no doubt that it's going to wind up a boy," Mal dryly said.

"Aunt Mal would adore a boy just as much as she'd adore a girl."

"Only when it's yours," Mal thought she was defending herself against the insinuation of turning soft, but really just proving the point to begin with.

Not to mention the so incredibly soft way she laid back down in Evie's lap, rolling over just slightly enough to nestle her head against the baby bump. Evie's fingers came down, brushing themselves through Mal's hair.

"...I've never felt anything like this before," Mal murmured, eyes drifting shut.

"Anything like what?"

"Like my best friend's baby kicking me in the freaking head."

Evie's smile brought on another kick, as if the baby could sense  _that_ too.

"But really though, laying here with you makes me feel so...peaceful. Even safe. I think it makes me really happy, Evie. If I didn't know any better I'd say I might actually have a heart," Mal went on.

"I wouldn't go  _that_ far," Evie joked. "After all, what would your mom say?"

Maleficent, skulking around her castle and shouting nasty things from the balcony to the streets down below.

"She'd say I was a disappointment, and a disgrace, and a miserable excuse for a villain," Mal realized. "But I don't care anymore. Just as long as I'm not a disappointment to you guys."

"You won't be," Evie promised her, fingers still combing.

"All my life I tried to be evil, got  _really_  great at being evil, actually, but for you two...I think I want to be good."

With Mal curled around Evie's body like a slumbering dragon curls to protect its treasures, there wasn't any doubt. She was so,  _so_  good.

"Maybe if Auradon saw how good we could be, they'd set us free," Evie wistfully said.

"If only."

Mal fell into silence, breathing slowly and softly.

"...Taking a nap?" Evie asked with a smirk.

"Just resting my eyes."

Something she wouldn't be able to do much of when life with a baby took over the hideout.

"...Mal, you know I don't  _have_  to stay here after the baby is born, I can find someplace else," Evie timidly began.

Mal's eyes opened, a frown creasing her features as she looked up at Evie.

"I want you to stay here," she said, confused by the sudden springing of the subject.

"You say that now, but when this place is filled with crying and screaming at all hours of the night—"

"If my mother of all people could deal with it, then so can I."

Mal made a valid point. It was a wonder Maleficent never just dropped her off the castle balcony during the first year of her life.

"Besides, you've already been here for months now, what am I supposed to do with myself if I can't see you everyday?" Mal added.

"The same things you did before we ever became friends."

"I don't even remember what that was like, E," Mal scoffed.

"Well, it started when you didn't get invited to my sixth birthday party..."

Evie was only a little girl then. It was so very strange for Mal to think about, the fact that the little girl she remembered back then was now here beside her with perhaps a little girl of her own. Evie thought  _she_  had a crazy twist in her life? Mal imagined she could give her a run for her money.

"...M? Will you be there with me when the baby's born?" Evie wondered.

Mal's smile was the only answer she needed to give.

"I'll even let you hold my hand. Just as long as it's not the drawing one."

Evie laughed, already holding on to the memory of how the sound of her happiness brought those tiny kicks against her stomach.

"Deal."

* * *

 

Evie tried not to be vain and superficial—tried not to be her mother's daughter, really—but still it was hard to not look in the mirror and be plagued by thoughts of the one cardinal sin her mom had always warned against; getting fat. Mal insisted that she didn't see it, that Evie looked the same as she ever did. She wore a bigger shirt size now, sure, but she also needed room for the not-so-little strawberry that was nearly five months. Seemed like Evie transfixed with her reflection was a sight Mal had only seen more and more of since her best friend had gotten pregnant, a sight she saw now as she stumbled into the bathroom on a Monday morning to get ready for school.

"Remember the good old first trimester when I used to beat you to the bathroom? Well, when you weren't already there throwing up in it, at least," she yawned.

Evie rolled her eyes.

"Morning, Mal."

Mal came up behind her, fighting her eyes open.

"Mirror mirror," she said.

"...I'm sorry, I know I’ve been really annoying about this lately," Evie hung her head.

Mal only shrugged, unperturbed.

"You look a little different for the first time in your life and you have a mom that always told you there's only one kind of beauty. You're not annoying, I get what's going on in your head."

"...You’re really not seeing what I’m seeing?" Evie fretfully asked.

"All I see is you, the same you I’ve always seen," Mal hugged her from behind, arms gingerly around Evie's tummy. "I don't think about you getting 'fat', because you're not. You know what I think about? The fact that you're practically halfway through and all we have is a crib."

She let Evie go.

"Yes, well, car seats and brand new boxes of diapers don't exactly come ashore on the Auradon barge," Evie frowned. "But we'll make it work. Somehow. If our parents could do it without even trying, then we can do it."

Mal's face soured.

"Ugh. Forget morning sickness, all this optimism floating around makes  _me_  nauseous."

At Dragon Hall, there were still vicious whispers to contend with, harsh gossip in the halls, especially with a baby bump that wasn't getting any smaller. Talk was reined in when Mal prowled protectively at Evie's side; no one was going to risk it when the daughter of Maleficent was around. But when Evie was on her own, and there were those who lacked the foresight to imagine what might happen if word of their trash talking got back to Mal, Evie still had to endure the hushed taunts and teasing laughter.

The fact that it was getting only slightly easier to take didn't mean she cared to hear it. Sometimes she wondered if she even  _preferred_  to have people run up and mock her to her face, instead of watching from the sidelines as they huddled together and slyly cast beady eyes her way when she passed.

The poor girl was just one walking ache by the time she met up with Mal and the boys at lunch, wincing with pains from all over that sitting in crooked and ramshackle desks all day didn't help.

"Hanging in there?" Carlos asked with a shy smile.

"Amazingly," Evie said.

"I think you  _are_  doing amazingly. You probably don't really care, hearing it from me, but I already think you're the best mom on The Isle," Carlos went on.

"...Oh, Carlos,  _of course_  I care! ...You don't know what that means to me," Evie's smile was huge and grateful.

Carlos beamed with the praise.

"Used that laptop of yours to narrow down baby names yet?" Jay asked.

"I haven't thought about baby names at all," Evie admitted with a sigh.

"Jay makes a great one. Just throwing that out there."

Mal rolled her eyes.

"Like she's gonna name her kid after a thief," Carlos said knowingly. "Evie's gonna go with something fancy, like...Bartholomew or Alexandra or something."

Mal had to stifle a laugh; that did indeed sound like Evie.

"It may not be baby names, but there is something I've been thinking about on and off lately," Evie said a little distractedly, stuck for a moment in her own head.

"Alright, Evie, we understand. Yes, in lieu of being a namesake, I'll accept the role of godfather instead," Jay pompously nodded to himself.

"...Do you ever shut up?" Mal wondered.

The three of them shared a laugh at Jay's expense, before Mal's turn towards Evie was her signal to continue.

"...Well, I can’t raise a baby by just sitting around and doing nothing, you know. She’s going to need a lot as she grows up, and not all of us can make a living out of thieving. So I've been thinking I might like to start my own clothing line someday, run a fashion business," she told everyone, searching their faces for reactions.

Jay and Carlos looked very impressed. Mal did too, but Evie could see that there were thoughts churning like storm clouds inside her head.

"Wow, that's a dream come true for you," she marveled. "...But E, school, fashion,  _and_  a brand new baby?"

Evie held up a hand; Mal didn't need to say any more.

"No, I know. I'm about to have my hands full. Not with school, of course, but I know."

"Not with school?" Carlos frowned.

"...Carlos, I'll have a baby to take care of. How am I supposed to go to school when she has to be fed, and changed, and constantly watched? And  _who_  would I get to babysit on an island full of villains?" Evie gently explained.

"I hear Mother Gothel is real good with babies," Mal casually said.

Evie's scowl didn't appreciate the humor.

Neither Carlos nor Jay had ever really thought of it that way before. No matter how intriguing or compelling, a baby meant less and less of Evie. Not at school, not out wandering The Isle...only at the hideout, and even then very preoccupied.

"I know I won’t be able to afford my attention being so divided when she’s born, but the clothing line would be something for me to start planning out now, something to keep me busy until the baby actually gets here," Evie added.

“You  _do_  have a lot of time on your hands now that the Evil Queen has you stuck inside the hideout,” Carlos glumly muttered.

Jay cleared his throat.

"Here's a question you probably don't want to hear, but where exactly are you going to have the baby?" he questioned.

"...You're right, Jay. We didn't want to hear that," Mal narrowed her eyes at him.

"But we need to," Evie sighed, a hand going to Mal's arm to calm any ire. "If I had a lamp and a genie, all I'd wish is for her to be born in Auradon, but...well, no lamp, and no genie."

"No wonder our parents don't like us," Carlos rested his chin in his hand as he grumbled. "Kids are a lot of trouble. A lot of work."

"Evie and I are going to figure this out, alright??" Mal's anxiousness about the subject got the best of her, putting a bite to her words.

It had never occurred to Evie before, until just then. The way that Mal had stepped up and stood strong from day one, becoming Evie's strength without even needing to be asked, becoming her shoulder to cry on. Mal bore much so that Evie wouldn't have to, and in doing so kept every ounce of strain and stress to herself, maybe even cracking a little under the burden.

"Mal..." Evie whispered, her hand curling tighter around Mal's arm.

"What? I'm alright," Mal didn't realize that no one implied she wasn't.

"...Of course you are. It seems like you always are. But M, if you're ever not...please tell me."

"I said I’m fine," Mal yanked her arm free.

"Hey, you guys..." Carlos said warningly. He had an eye for spotting tension. "You're both under a lot of pressure, but it's never a good time to turn on each other."

"We're not—!!" Mal stopped herself short before she could say anything more, meeting Evie's eyes as she already felt guilty just from tugging her arm away.

"Mal, it can't be easy on you," Carlos gently said. "You can talk if you need to."

"What are you now, a shrink?" Mal again snapped.

"...Could we maybe have a minute?" Evie asked the boys.

"We don't need a minute," Mal insisted.

But Carlos and Jay deferred to Evie, taking their lunch trays without any more prodding and leaving the table behind to find another of their own.

"...E, come on, don't be crazy. Suddenly you’re worried about me because I raised my voice at them? I do that all the time."

"I'm worried about you because we're in a really tough situation, and while I've always had you to cry to, you haven't had anyone."

"I don't cry," Mal flatly said. "Look, when I laid my head in your lap and felt that very first kick, I meant what I said...it was like magic. And to feel magic like that on the Isle of the Lost? Yes, this is tough, on me and on you, but I can handle it, alright? I wouldn't give it up for anything in the world."

"...Sometimes I get so scared that you will," Evie whispered, voice shaking.

That got Mal's attention, her attention that was so stunned that Evie had plenty of time to explain further in the time it took Mal to figure out what to say to that.

"I never asked for your help, Mal. You decided to give it to me on your own, and you could just as easily decide to take it away, too. If it gets to be too much, and you get too overwhelmed, there's really nothing keeping you here, no reason for you to put yourself through all of this."

Evie knew exactly what was keeping Mal there, knew exactly for what reason she was putting herself through all of this. The shrill and devious little voice in Evie's head, however, did not. So Mal would just have to remind it.

"My best friend is keeping me here. Her little strawberry is, too. You've been changing on the outside, but I've been changing on the inside...I don't feel evil anymore. And I'm okay with that. If being evil is abandoning you, but being good is hugging you, and making you smile, and laughing with you when the baby kicks, then I know which one I choose. And not only for you two...I want to be good for myself."

They both reached for each other's hands, twining their fingers together tightly.

"...The strength of evil is good as none, when stands before three hearts as one," Evie recited.

"The Isle can try, but it's not going to get the best of our family."

"...No, M. It's not."

* * *

 

Many discoveries about themselves and about each other had been made since Evie became pregnant. Mal's artistic hands doubling as good massagers was the newest discovery, one that came in handy with Evie's back and body aches. The couch was all Evie's as Mal fitted herself behind her, trying her best to work out the kinks.

"...This is a lot of stuff, you guys," Carlos said with genuine concern as he sat on the floor of the hideout with the laptop.

"Hey, our parents didn't need half of it. How important could it be?" Jay shrugged. He sat across from Carlos on the floor, one of his school notebooks propped on a knee and his hand tapping a pencil against the other.

"Mom-to-be gets to decide what's important and what's not," Mal told them, rubbing small circles along Evie's back.

"Mom-to-be has a lot of sewing to do," Carlos casually mentioned. Evie's ears perked up. "Okay Evie, babies need their onesies, sweaters, pajamas, socks, hats—"

_"Hats?"_  Mal balked, only able to picture the ridiculous image of a baby in a top hat.

"This is Evie's kid we're talking about. Don't be surprised if it's in a crown at five days old," Jay said.

Carlos went on, reading off the laptop. A baby checklist was a daunting task, one the villain kids had collectively dedicated an entire weekend afternoon to conquering. Diapers, bottles, bibs, pacifiers, all things that were plenty scarce on The Isle.

"Carlos, your mom still drives around like a maniac in that car of hers, did she ever have a carseat for you?" Mal asked when Carlos passed it on his list.

"No way, she just strapped him to the hood," Jay snickered.

Carlos managed a scowl and a kick in his direction before he thought the question over.

"No idea, Mal. But even if she did, what does it matter? It's long gone now."

"It matters because what comes to The Isle stays on The Isle," there was a shine in Mal's eyes, the sign of a spark in her brain. "We live on a floating garbage dump, a _nything_  our parents might've had when we were little has to still be on this island somewhere."

"Sure, scrapped for parts," Carlos dejectedly muttered.

Mal didn't let the shine or the spark die.

"Parts that we can put back together."

Jay and Mal had known each other for so long, it was hard to tell whether his eyes learned to shine from her, or her eyes learned to shine from him.

"Like a hunt for treasure," he mused, electric sparks turning the gears in his head too. "Maybe this stuff  _is_  all here on The Isle, and we just haven't bothered to look."

"Convinced there was no point," Evie said. "...Seems like four heads are better than two."

"Two and a half," Carlos corrected with a boyish grin, glancing over his shoulder at Evie.

"Whatever, all the baby did was sit there and look pretty," Mal said.

Evie leaned back against her, interrupting her massage for a moment just to be closer to Mal.

"She gets that from me," Evie told her.

Carlos wanted to try his hand at crafting together a makeshift baby monitor, wheels already spinning in his head as he thought about where to get the parts. Jay scribbled down the list of baby needs into his notebook for future reference and planned to use his five-finger discount at many of The Isle's stores, to pick up things like blankets and sheets and towels for baby bath times. What they couldn't find on The Isle, they would search for on the Auradon barge, and what they couldn't find there, they'd just have to piece together themselves. They'd make it work somehow. They had to.

Mal and Evie had plans of their own the following weekend, come Mal's revelation that trash didn't leave The Isle, trash  _was_  The Isle.

"I always think it's weird to see teachers outside of school, don't you?" Mal asked Evie, before pulling open the creaking door.

"The sign says 'Closed Until Midnight'," Evie pointed out.

With a beautifully bright sun shining overhead that Mal and Evie absolutely could not see through the smoggy haze over The Isle, it certainly was not midnight.

"Yeah, well, I run this island, so..." Mal paid it no mind, walking right in.

It looked like a war of Mal's art supplies on the inside, everything splattered with paint and splashed with color, from walls to chairs to hairdryers.

"You could work here," Evie mused, knowing how Mal secretly appreciated anything that burst with color despite what the shades of her wardrobe might imply.

"I wonder how Lady Tremaine has the time to teach and run a salon on the side," Mal said.

The two of them were taking a look around, finding the place empty, until Evie's curious gaze settled in one spot and she pointed a finger to follow.

"...That's how."

There was a young girl just as covered with color as the rest of the place, not realizing she had company with the headphones on over her ears.

"...Who is that?" Mal questioned.

Evie shook her head. She had no idea. Broom in hand, the girl was sweeping the floor, a little smile on her features in spite of the tedious work as she bopped along to her music. Finally she saw them with an idle glance up from the floor, pushing her headphones down around her neck with a gasp.

"You...you're Evie!" she said excitedly, abandoning her broom to bound over to them.

Evie didn't know what to make of her. She was sure the only person who'd ever beamed that brightly at her before was Mal.

"You know me?" her features furrowed in confusion.

"You're hard to miss," Mal said with a smirk.

"No, I know that, I just meant—"

"I'm Dizzy! You know, Drizella's daughter?"

Mal and Evie exchanged a long look with each other.

"Drizella's... _daughter,"_  Mal repeated in an “Aha” moment.

"That's me," Dizzy grinned. "Wow, Evie, here in the salon! And Mal too! You guys are  _so_  cool."

"Smart kid," Mal said. "And aside from her being the Evil Queen's daughter, how exactly do you know Evie?"

"Everyone knows the fashion queen of The Isle, duh," Dizzy waved off Mal's question like it was something silly that shouldn't be fluttering around the air in the first place.

Evie figured she'd been called everything  _but_  the fashion queen of The Isle.

"I like fashion too," Dizzy went on. "I even design my own accessories when I get the chance!"

"Really?" Evie was thoroughly impressed and intrigued.

Dizzy nodded fervently.

"Hey kid, is Lady Tremaine around?" Mal asked, cutting in on the fashion talk.

"Granny? She's out."

Both Mal and Evie had to stifle wicked laughter at hearing Lady Tremaine referred to as "granny".

"Okay, well what about your mom?" Mal tried again.

"She's upstairs. Why?"

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, E here is going to have a baby."

Dizzy giggled as her eyes went to Evie's tummy, seemingly delighted by the fact.

"And babies need a lot of stuff. We came to see if Granny had any of Drizella's or Anastasia's old baby things lying around, but if Drizella had any of  _your_  old baby things lying around..." Mal explained.

"Oh, that's all in the attic," Dizzy shrugged.

She wondered why Mal and Evie suddenly looked as if they'd just seen a ghost.

"...What? You guys mean like high chairs and strollers and stuff, right?"

The pair nodded.

"Yeah, mom stashed it all away in the attic! Even some toys Aunt Anastasia got me when I was little. They’re kind of broken, of course, they were broken when they got here, but..."

"...Dizzy, you're an angel," Mal said quietly.

"Me?"

"You," Evie's smile was warm and bright.

"You really want to use  _my_  old things for  _your_  baby??"

"Can I?" Evie urged.

She might as well have asked if Dizzy wanted a bag of gold, or perhaps a closet full of candy.

"Of course!!" she bounced on her feet. "Of course you can! Mom won't miss it at all!"

Dizzy made for one unusual kid, but Evie found herself rather loving the fact.

"What are you going to name it?" the curious girl asked after she'd stopped her bouncing.

"We don't know yet," Evie shrugged apologetically.

Mal froze. We. Evie said  _"We_  don't know yet", as if Mal got a say in the naming, as if it were somehow her kid too.  

"Oh yeah, I guess here on The Isle you won't know until it's born," Dizzy remembered. "Then what do you want? A boy or a girl?"

That was a question Evie didn't have to think over.

"I want a girl," she said easily. "Mal?"

There it was again, the insinuation that this little baby was more than just Evie's. Mal was eyeing Dizzy, Dizzy in all her wide-eyed eagerness that was so very out of place on the Isle of the Lost.

"...Girls aren't so bad," she said. "E, we'll have to come back with Jay and Carlos later to cart Dizzy's things all the way back to the hideout."

"You're right, M. Dizzy, we'll be back. Thank you so,  _so_  much. You really have no idea what this means to us."

A big weight off both of their chests when neither of them could afford to be out of breath, that was for sure.

"It's nothing," Dizzy went adorably pink in the cheeks.

"No, Dizzy, it's everything," if Evie's not-so-little strawberry wasn't  _right_  there in the way, she would've hugged her.

"We'll be back," Mal repeated Evie's words, taking her hand as she did so. "Nice meeting you, Diz."

"Yeah! You guys too!" Dizzy gave them an exuberant wave.

She wore one giant grin their entire way out, and as Mal let the door fall shut behind her the very last thing she heard was a thrilled little squeak, reminiscent of Cinderella's mice stumbling upon an entire wheel of cheese.

"So...Dizzy Tremaine," Mal laughed to herself as she and Evie started down the street. "She's like nothing I've ever seen on The Isle before."

"I know," Evie wistfully agreed.

"Must be adopted."

"Mal!"

Evie gave her a scolding little elbow.

"You called her an angel," Evie then remembered, a smug smile claiming her features.

"...So?" Mal grumbled, utterly called out.

"So I thought you didn't care for kids."

"I don't."

"Mhm," Evie wasn't fooled for one second. "I think you have a soft spot for more than just our little strawberry."

Mal stopped dead in her tracks, bringing Evie to a stop with her.

"...What?" Evie questioned, curious about Mal's wide-eyed look.

"You just...nothing, E..."

Words utterly escaped Mal. "Our" little strawberry.

"You okay?" Evie fretted.

"Yeah, I'm...I'm great, Evie."

Feeling like her heart would beat its way out of her chest, but still, pretty great.

Just leave it to the Isle of the Lost to take a great mood and destroy it.

When there was a splash of color back at the hideout, starkly interrupting the dingy murk of the alleyway. Sitting pretty on the dirty ground just outside the entrance gate, something so crisp and fresh it was a wonder it ever made it onto The Isle in the first place.

A shiny red apple.

Evie reached out with a frightfully blank stare and squeezed Mal's hand like she was already practicing for the delivery room.

"Mal..." the merest whisper cracked her voice.

Mal's heart sunk low in her chest.

"...She doesn't have any magic here, Evie. An apple is just an apple, she's only trying to scare you."

It was hard to tell which of them she was trying to convince.

"Mal,  _why?_  Why does she want to do this to me?? I know she's evil, and I know this whole situation isn't ideal...but I'm her  _daughter._  How could any mother want to be so cruel to her daughter??"

"E..." Mal turned herself towards her best friend. "She only wins if you let her get to you. Believe me, that's the  _only_  way a villain ever wins."

"I'm not trying to be scared, M, really I'm not, I just..."

"...You have a kid to think about," Mal understood. "You'd be the first parent on The Isle to ever think about their kid."

"I know she doesn't have her magic on The Isle, but there are so many villains here who didn't need magic at all to commit their crimes," Evie said worriedly. "And I get that you're here for me, I'm not trying to take your protection for granted, but you're just one person against a villainess with a history of showing no mercy."

Mal lost herself in thought for a moment.

"...Okay, so I'm only one person. But what if we had an army?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Mal. Where in the world would  _we_  get an army?"

* * *

 

"Oh, this is rich."

Uma cackled the entire way down her ship's gangplank, down to the dock where Mal and Evie stood. Her pirate crew joined in her amusement, watching from the ship with sneers and beady eyes.

"You know I've  _dreamed_ of this?" Uma grinned, crossing her arms. "You wanting something from me, and me watching you squirm like a worm on a hook."

Mal's glare was dark and dirty.

"You haven't even heard the offer yet," she pointed out.

"Three guesses says it has to do with the pop princess here," Uma's glinting eyes locked right onto Evie.

"We could really use your help, Uma..." Evie quietly said.

"This is so funny," the pirate grinned.

Mal bristled, protectively moving herself in front of Evie.

"It's not funny," she argued.

"It's a little funny."

"It's  _not_  funny!"

"Just a little, Mal. It's one thing to hear about it, but to see it in person? Beauty queen with a baby bump? Like I said, this is rich."

"Are you actually going to listen to us or are you just going to stand there and cackle like a hyena all day?" Mal demanded.

Uma shook her head distractedly as she made her way up the dock, circling the pair like a vulture.

"Check this out, right? You come to my ship talking about an offer? An offer means that you give me something and I give you something back, and there's  _nothing_  I want from you, Mal," Uma's eyes narrowed.

Mal paid her no mind.

"I know you shake down protection money from these streets by the water and make the people here pay up to keep your wharf rats at bay. Just consider this an honest job offer," she said.

"Sure, because we became pirates to take honest jobs," Uma scoffed. "You think I'm blind? I see exactly where this is going. I don't run a crew of babysitters. The Isle is a dangerous place, maybe your girl here should've thought about that before she went bringing someone else onto it."

"My mother is unpredictable," Evie fearfully blurted. "Especially when she's furious. I don't know what she'll do, when she'll do it, or if she'll even do anything at all. But all of us here on the Isle of the Lost already spend enough time looking over our shoulders, none of us need any more reason to."

"Are you done with the sob story? Because I have a ship to captain," Uma stopped pacing and pointed a thumb over her shoulder.

Mal stormed forward, meeting her face to face.

"Don't even  _try_  to pretend you're such a heartless witch! I seem to remember a little girl who couldn't swim and the other little girl who tried to save her!"

"Yeah? And look where that got me!!" Uma barked.

"I'm sorry," Mal meant it, but it wasn't at all convincing through her gritted teeth. "I'm sorry about the whole Shrimpy thing, but I know it proves my point. That day, you cared whether I lived or died. That makes you less of a villain than you really think."

Boos and hisses from the crew aboard the ship.

"Your wharf rats don't fool me either," Mal firmly said. "If any one of them fell overboard the rest would all do like you and jump right into the water to come to their rescue. Uma, if anything, don't think of this as helping us. Think of this as your chance to dethrone the Evil Queen and show her who the real big bad in town is."

Uma wasn't so easily moved.

"Why should I care what mommy dearest wants to do to her prissy little daughter? Ain't my family."

"...No, but it's mine," Mal's eyes softened.

Something about her quiet and desperate tone perked Uma's ears. As her mother's daughter, she always had a twisted taste for desperation.

"...Evie is my family now. So is her baby. And if I thought there was any other way to make sure they stay safe, believe me, I wouldn't be dragging you into this. I know you understand on some level, because in a way your crew is like your family, and if you ever thought they were in trouble and coming to me was your only choice, I know you'd do it. Uma, please. As much as I try, I can't be at Evie's side all the time. All I'm asking for is an extra set of eyes on her and her mother to make sure nothing happens."

"And what do I get in return?"

"...Anything you want."

"I told you, I don't want anything from you."

"Think of something!!" Mal snapped. "Uma, don't you get it? I'll do  _anything."_

"M, wait..." Evie whispered worriedly, knowing Uma would certainly take Mal's desperation and twist it for her own evil gain.

The stare-down between Mal and Uma didn't waiver for an excruciatingly long time, until the sea witch finally broke and was beset by wicked laughter.

"Well don't you two make the perfect little parents," she jeered.

"...I'm the aunt," Mal defensively corrected.

"Please. You think I haven't heard about all the crap you've been doing for this girl? Nuh-uh Mal, you're the dad."

"I am not—!!"

"A favor," Uma interrupted. "We keep an eye on baby mama, and you owe me a favor."

Evie tightly squeezed Mal's hand.

"Mal, no. We'll figure something else out, okay? Don't do this," she pleaded.

"Done," Mal said without hesitation.

"Good," Uma grinned. "Boys, go tail Her Majesty the Queen."

With a snap of the fingers Uma sent a crowd of pirates scampering from the ship and taking off out of the harbor.

"...Uma, thank you," Mal softly said.

Uma held up a stern hand.

"I don't take thanks as payment, I take  _payment_  as payment. So when I call on you for my favor, you better answer."

"...I'll answer."


	5. Chapter 5

"Evie!! Geez, wear a bell!!"

Good thing Mal's mother wasn't around to see her almost fall out of bed at the sudden sight of Evie lurking in the doorway.

"A bell? Really? I haven't slept in three weeks and now you want me to wear a bell?" the glare on Evie's face could melt flesh.

"...Come here," Mal sighed, setting her sketchbook on the nightstand and rolling out of bed.

She gave up her spot for Evie, helping her up onto the bed and propping the pillows behind her.

"What hurts?" Mal asked, crawling up onto the bed too and sitting in front of Evie.

"Seriously, M? You're asking like you don't already know I'm going to say 'everything'?"

Sleepy Evie never used to be Cranky Evie. Sleepy and Pregnant Evie, on the other hand...

"I'll rephrase. What hurts the most?"

"My previous answer stands."

"She's a pain, huh?" Mal chuckled. "Must be learning from Aunt Mal."

"Then Aunt Mal can go and get my sleep for me," Evie snapped.

"E..." Mal reached out to rub slow and soothing circles around Evie's tummy. "...I'm so sorry. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like for you right now."

"...Well, you did your homework, right? Isn't all of this normal?"

"A hundred percent," Mal nodded.

Evie gave a little smile, calming down.

"Then I guess that means everything's going okay. And I'm glad," she said. "But I’m just so tired, Mal. First it was the backaches, and headaches, and  _everything_ -aches keeping me up at night, and now on top of it all, I've been having nightmares, too."

It was news to Mal, whose hand dropped to the bed before she scooted in close.

"You have?? Nightmares about what?"

"...Well, mainly about my mom, of course. Even  _with_  Uma's pirates watching her every move. Some of them are just about the horrors of being stuck here on The Isle, but some of them...are about you."

_"Me?"_

Oh, how Mal did not like hearing she was partially to blame for Evie's sleepless nights.

"E, what have I ever...why would you have nightmares about me??"

"Because you made a deal with Uma," Evie flatly said. "And things didn't go so well for the last girl who made a deal with a sea witch. You have no idea what she'll make you do when she cashes in on that favor!"

"Uma is for me to worry about, not you," Mal said with a firm, unwavering set to her expression. "Would you really rather I  _didn't_  make a deal, and have the Evil Queen stalking you around every corner?"

"You've just been doing so much for me, Mal...times like these, I can't help but wonder if it's  _too_  much."

"I can't see how it would be too much," Mal frowned as if Evie had thrown a very confusing math problem at her.

"I know, and that's what scares me."

Mal couldn't believe it.

"So that makes you have nightmares about me??"

"About what Uma might make you do when she decides she wants a favor, yes."

"Then say you have nightmares about Uma! Not about me!!"

Mal didn't mean to shout. Mal never meant to shout. The look on Evie's face just then was the exact reason why.

"...I'm sorry, Mal. I didn't mean to upset you. I'll just go back to my room."

She started to move, started to get up, but Mal quickly caught her by the hand.

"No, Evie, don't. Please don't.  _I'm_  sorry. It's just...giving people nightmares was the old Mal. And new Mal doesn't like to hear that old Mal is up to her rotten tricks."

"Oh Mal, she isn't," Evie said reassuringly. "That's not what this is at all."

"...Just a baby on the brain, huh?"

"Very much so. And I know you can't let anything happen to me, but don't you get it? I can't let anything happen to  _you,_ either."

"Hey, if it's any consolation, I don't think Uma's as heartless as you imagine. She did try to save me from drowning when we were kids, after all," Mal said.

"And you repaid her by dumping shrimp in her hair."

"...Don't make that face at me. Old Mal, remember? And you know what? Old Mal doesn't know that you like being in my bed because it smells like me and helps you get to sleep."

As if on cue, Evie's eyes fluttered drowsily.

"...You think it's silly, don't you?" she murmured.

"I think I'm a fan of anything that helps you fall asleep."

Evie slunk down low and adjusted Mal's pillows before settling her head on them.

"Want me to sing?" Mal joked.

"Don't even think about it," Evie warned, closing her eyes as she rolled onto her side.

"Why not?"

"Because she'll probably like the sound of your singing, and the last thing I need is to be kicked all night."

Mal laughed, and leaned over to tuck Evie's hair behind her ears.

"Interesting theory," she said. "When can I try singing to her?"

"When I'm awake," Evie yawned.

Mal was so very careful as she got up, and just as quiet as she tiptoed around to turn off the lights.

"...Goodnight, Evie."

* * *

 

Both paint and a grin were splashed across Carlos' face as he stepped back to admire everyone's hard work.

"Well, it's not much...but it's home," he said proudly.

And just when Evie thought the hideout couldn't see any more paint. The walls slicked with (almost) brand new coats of her royal blue before promptly being decorated by Mal, armed with her cans of spray paint and free creative reign. The baby's crib lined up perfectly beneath the huge heart and crown emblem Mal had expertly sprayed on the wall with reds and golds, a gnarled rocking chair lifted from an "antique" shop sitting in a corner. One of Evie's dressers turned into a changing table with just a faded cushion and some washed-up boards of wood hammered into place by Jay to act as guardrails. Everything gifted by Dizzy finding a place somewhere, a drawer filled with every blanket and sheet Jay managed to swipe, another drawer starting to fill with the tiny little clothes Evie was hard at work on when she couldn't sleep.

An empty room in the hideout suddenly transformed into a nursery.

Mal's face, Evie's, Jay's, Carlos'; Mal had painted them all along the blue of the walls, along with all their crests. Four watchful pairs of eyes just ready and waiting to protect a slumbering baby, four symbols of VK power and solidarity that Evie's son or daughter would grow up seeing everyday.

"...What do you think, E?" Mal asked.

The four of them had worked all day to put the room together—Evie reduced to merely supervising when furniture was being carted around, but still, the four of them working as one. And yet she herself took a stunned look around the room like she was seeing it for the very first time, eyes sparkling and twinkling.

"You guys, it's..."

Words utterly failed her, but the glisten of tears was all the answer anyone needed.

"She loves it," Carlos smiled.

"...I love it," Evie whispered, her eyes clouding.

Jay draped his arm around Evie's shoulders.

"I think that's one lucky kid you have there. Especially with a godfather like me," he teased.

"You mean an aunt like me," Mal narrowed her eyes at him.

Carlos shyly raised a hand.

"Do I get to be an uncle?" he wondered.

"Aunt beats uncle," Mal was quick to say.

A real life nursery, right there before Evie's eyes. Three friends at her side. A best friend who would never, ever leave it.

Mal found her there long after the boys had gone home, just sitting in the rocking chair and gently rocking herself back and forth.

"Comfy?" Mal asked, stepping into the room.

"...Very," Evie smiled.

Mal stood over her best friend, hands in her pockets and watching that easy smile on Evie's face.

"You look like maybe it's finally hit you," Mal noted.

"It’s starting to feel real, yeah," Evie said, cheeks blushing shyly.

"Are you scared?" Mal wondered.

"Of course I am. But the scared I am now and the scared I was when I first held that pregnancy test...they're completely different, M. It’s like a good kind of scared."

"I didn't even know there could be a 'good' kind of scared on the Isle of the Lost."

Evie laughed.

"Yes you did. You felt it when we were first becoming friends. I know you did, because I felt it too."

When she and Evie first became friends. Mal certainly did feel  _a lot_  of things when she and Evie first became friends.

"...I'm going to miss the crib, though," Evie said. "Even if it's only a room away. I'm going to miss having it nearby."

"You liked it that much? It's hardly professional craftsmanship, E," Mal laughed. "But the boys and I can move it back into your room, if you want."

Evie stopped her rocking, letting the chair steady.

"I didn't want to tell you this, but...I spent so much time just staring at it, Mal. Imagining what it would look like when a baby was curled up in it," she finally admitted. "...It seemed silly, at the time."

"It won't be so silly when there's a real baby in that crib," Mal smiled.

"Do you think she'll be soft?" Evie suddenly blurted.

Her eyes were wide and curious, as if she were only an inquisitive child herself. Oh, how Mal's heart fluttered in her chest.

"So soft," she nodded.

"What about warm? Do you think she'll be warm?"

"The closest thing we'll ever have to sunlight. You'll never be able to stop hugging her. So I guess I better get my hugs in while I still can."

Evie could hear Mal's heartbeat in her ear when she stood beside the rocking chair and drew her in for a hug. It was strong and steady, the very essence of everything that Mal had been to her for the last five months. Evie wished she had the words to describe what Mal meant to her.

"...M, I'll always have a hug ready and waiting for you," she said. "And maybe this baby really will turn out to be my sunlight, but you? You'll be the sky and the stars and everything in between. Her home and mine. We never would've made it this far without you."

Mal's heart started to beat a quicker pace in Evie's ear. Evie imagined she could feel her own doing the same, something so deep inside never wanting Mal to let her go. Evie couldn't even let herself dwell on it; Mal was just always cause for strange and wonderful feelings.

"Thank you, Mal."

It was an all-encompassing thank you. A thank you for  _everything_.

Not wanting to linger on something that might very well make her cry, Mal abruptly let go of Evie and stepped away with an incriminating sniff.

"You still have drawers that need to be filled with baby clothes, you know," she said.

"You're right," Evie smiled happily.

Mal took her by the hand and helped her to her feet, something she just liked to do even though not-too-big Evie really didn't need it, and together they went from the nursery to the hideout's living room. Evie settled in at the table where her sewing machine sat, where all her fabrics and patterns were spread out. Mal, getting comfortable on the couch, grabbed the laptop from the coffee table.

"So," Mal idly started as the sounds of Evie's sewing machine began to fill the air. "Any more thoughts on that fashion business of yours?"

Evie laughed quietly to herself, as if embarrassed.

"Well, do you really think I have any kind of a chance at that?"

"Hey, if there's one thing villains are known for, besides being evil and ruining lives—"

"That's two things."

"—It's their fashion. What do you need a chance for? This is something you're amazing at and something you have fun doing."

"It isn’t that simple when I have a baby to take care of," Evie reminded her. "And I can't steal to get by forever, M. We've all had our fair share of falls for getting caught before, and soon I won't be able to risk that. Or any of the enemies we make from stealing the wrong things at the wrong time."

"...Dang. Babies really put a cramp in our style, don't they?" Mal realized.

"Which means if I want to make a living I have to do it the way Jafar did, and your mom did, and even Lady Tremaine did."

Mal laughed.

"Kind of ironic that life on The Isle has reduced the villains to honest work, isn't it?"

"Well, we can't all be pirates like Uma."

"Some pirate she is. Her ship doesn't even go anywhere," Mal rolled her eyes. "But honestly, E. You remember what Dizzy said, you're the fashion queen of The Isle. I don't know much about dreams, but for you, I think it's the perfect one to follow. You said you needed to stay busy until the baby gets here, after all."

Until the baby got there. Frightfully, that day seemed to be fast approaching.

"...What about your dreams, Mal?" Evie wondered, speaking only to distract herself from the fact that four months to go had very nearly dwindled down to three.

"I don't have dreams," Mal scoffed, watching the wheel on the laptop screen spin around and around. A better internet connection, that was her dream.

"You have to, everyone does," Evie glanced up from her sewing for a moment, eyes drawn to Mal's face. "Even our parents had dreams. They weren't exactly the best ones, but irregardless. I still dream of getting off this island. I dream of Auradon. Don't you see anything in your future?"

Mal shook her head.

"I'm no fortune teller, Evie. I'll get to the future when I get to it. For right now, I just have a best friend and her kid to look after."

"But if I had never gotten pregnant—"

"I don't know, Evie," Mal interrupted. "For the longest time every day always felt like there wouldn't even be a tomorrow for me, I don't plan ahead...I guess my future really just involves you and your daughter."

"Or son."

"Or son. Probably son. I've said it before, us already talking about it like it's a girl for sure means it'll be a boy. Are you  _ever_  going to start thinking of names, by the way?"

"I'll name it Mal," Evie distractedly said, studying the onesie she was piecing together. "Mal's a nice name. Works for both a girl and a boy."

"Very funny."

* * *

 

The sun—pathetic as it was under The Isle's perpetual cover of clouds—had just barely risen as Evie shuffled out of her room and into the living room, where ugly gray light filtered through the stained glass windows. She was a little chilly in her nightgown, but bearably so, and it wasn't like pajama pants did her any favors in her mad dashes to the bathroom all through the night. It was deja vu all over again. Her little strawberry had outgrown little, and Mal didn't have quite so easy a time laying her head in Evie's lap anymore.

Evie was perplexed by the sight of the tv flickering wildly, bouncing its glow around the dim room, but she soon enough found that Mal was awake too. Just slouched down so low on the couch with her feet propped up on the table that Evie didn't even see her until she drew closer.

"I did not want to get up this morning," Evie sighed, standing over the back of the couch.

Mal, still in her pajamas and ignoring her bedhead, appeared to reflect the same sentiments.

"Didn't want to, or couldn't?" she teased, sleepy eyes too lazy to break away from the tv screen.

"That's funny. You're funny," Evie planted a glower right on the back of Mal's head. "As if I'm waddling around like Ursula stuck with land legs."

"Give it a few more weeks," Mal playfully chided.

Evie came around and dropped beside Mal on the couch.

"I don't want to waddle," she groaned miserably.

Mal's tired smile was very amused.

"You're pregnant, E. It'll happen."

Evie let her head loll lazily to the side, curiously studying Mal for a moment or two.

"Why are you up so early?" she asked.

"I'm asking myself that exact same question. Why are  _you_  up so early?"

"Believe me, it's not me who's up."

Mal let her hand come to rest on Evie's stomach, feeling all sorts of things going on underneath her palm.

"Huh. So she's an early bird. That's not gonna fly around here," Mal was taken over by a snicker. "Early bird. Fly. See what I did there?"

Evie rolled her eyes.

"What am I going to do with you, Mal?"

"Adore me, your very best friend in the whole wide world," Mal's smile was still proud of her wit.

"I adore you, my very best friend in the whole wide world," Evie said without a second's hesitation.

She shifted on the couch, trying and failing to make herself comfortable. Waddling or not, carrying a baby around was not a picnic. Evie nowadays was just soreness personified.

"You know, as much as I'd hate to turn evil, I would kill for a warm bath," she muttered, still shifting in place.

"Settle for a massage?" Mal offered.

"Absolutely, any day."

Mal stood up with a yawn, making room for Evie to lay on her side so she could get at her back. She had the magic touch, eliciting a relaxed sigh from Evie in just seconds.

"She's been moving like crazy lately," Evie murmured.

"That's good."

"I know, I can't get over it, I'm just  _so_  sleepy. You call her an early bird, but trust me, sometimes she's a night owl. I miss my sleep. M, tell her that mommy just wants her sleep."

Mal felt the warmth creeping across her cheeks.

"...Does mommy realize she just called herself mommy?" she said with a little laugh.

Evie slowly sat herself up, suddenly no longer interested in her massage as she met Mal with wide eyes.

"...I did, didn't I?" she whispered. "Is that—?"

"The first time you've ever said it? Yeah," Mal nodded. "How did it feel?"

Evie was taken over by a tiny, bubbly giggle, clasping Mal's hands in her own.

"Like I want to say it again," she answered.

"You know it's your job to get excited when the kid says it, right? Not you," Mal teased her.

"I don't care," Evie shook her head with a huge grin.

"So it's a good thing to say now?"

"...Wow. It always seemed like I'd never really say it," Evie thought aloud.

"Yeah, you've spent the better part of six months in denial. Been there, done that. You're growing up, Evie," Mal smirked.

_"Who's_  growing up?" Evie squeezed Mal's hands.

Mal just had to indulge her.

"Mommy's growing up," she said with a chuckle.

Evie's suddenly giddy mood was tempered by a big yawn, taking her over entirely.

"Mommy needs some coffee," she said drowsily.

"I'll get dressed and head down to the Slop Shop."

"M, it's six in the morning. The Slop Shop isn't open," Evie reminded her.

"Sometimes you really forget the whole 'Daughter of Maleficent' and 'Most Feared Villain Kid' thing, don't you?"

"I don't know, Mal. I'm sure everyone here has been talking about you going soft."

"Is that so? Then I guess it's time to show them what's what."

"Actually, M..."

Evie's soft voice stopped Mal on her way to go get dressed.

"I think I'll pass. Kind of burnt out on the Slop Shop," Evie said with shy laughter.

"...Oh, E, I'll bet you are, but you have to eat. I know the food here is terrible and definitely not what you need, but something is better than nothing."

It threatened to make Evie's stomach turn just thinking about it.

"Pretty sure I'd be slightly better off eating  _actual_  garbage," she grumbled. "Just the coffee for me, Mal. Please."

"...You're sure?"

"Yeah," Evie nodded. "I promise I'll eat something later."

Mal sat and settled in at her best friend's feet for a moment, resting on Evie's knee.

"Someday I'll take you to Auradon," Mal said simply, looking up at her.

"Oh yeah? And how exactly are you going to do that?" Evie asked skeptically.

"Magic."

Evie's smile was oddly peaceful and content when she absentmindedly combed her fingers through Mal's morning hair.

"You know, as much as I  _want_  Auradon, I really don't  _need_  it, M. Just you, that's all I need."

"I'll never be out of reach," Mal promised her.

"...Did I mention that I adore you?"

Mal closed her eyes at the steady rhythm of the fingers in her hair, just barely tickling her scalp.

"It's been a few minutes. Say it again."

"I adore you, Mal."

"I adore you too, Evie."

* * *

 

Mal was holding fast and holding tight to so many good memories, never imagining she'd ever be so fascinated with the thought of a baby. Even though she'd watched as a baby bump turned into more of a baby hill, it wasn't as if she tired of it, wasn't as if she were any less thrilled than she was that very first day Evie lifted her shirt and showed the little strawberry peeking through.

She would creep into Evie's room to wake her for school in the mornings, so the grating blare of an alarm clock wouldn't do it first. The room dark, Evie on her side and hugging a pillow close. Mal hated to do it, knowing what little sleep Evie got was precious and wishing she could convince her best friend to skip school for a few days and sleep in. She hated to do it, which is why she was always so very careful and gentle when she did, sitting down on the edge of the bed and rubbing lazy circles around Evie's stomach to wake her. Every time, Evie's eyes would blink open with a smile.

And Mal could say what she wanted to about Uma, but the pirate kept up her end of bargains. Her eyes and ears all over the island kept watch over Evie's mom in ways that Mal only wished she could; the Evil Queen couldn't even curse Evie's name without the pair knowing about it.

"...How long do you think Uma's going to keep this up?" Evie asked before they left the hideout one morning.

"Long enough," Mal said. Mal hoped.

Already wearing her backpack, she draped Evie's bag over her shoulder too so Evie wouldn't have to carry it.

"Have you felt safe, E? Knowing your mom can't just waltz over here anymore?"

"Well, yes."

"Then that's all that matters," Mal said. "You ready?"

Evie nodded.

Ready for school, yes. Ready for the major life upheaval that was only about three months away from being born? Not so much.

Speak of the devil and she'll appear, for down in the alley, leaning back against a wall of graffitied brick and curiously studying her nails, was Uma.

"Well look what we have here. A couple of lame and desperate villains closer than two peas in a pod. Or should I say, three?"

Uma's twisted smile had a propensity for making Evie very, very nervous.

"What are you doing here, Uma?" Mal coldly asked after they descended the metal stairway.

"You hired my crew on to bodyguard, didn't you? I'm bodyguarding."

Very, very nervous indeed.

Even Mal tensed up as Uma slunk over to them, cautious and wary of the highly suspicious charity routine. Mal knew Uma, and Uma was up to something.

"Whatever you have to say, say it now and just back off," Mal demanded, standing protectively as always in front of Evie.

Uma's inappropriate amusement soured before their very eyes, a scowl and a dangerous set to her features taking over.

"You know Mal, you really piss me off with this whole goody two-shoes routine," she growled.

"It isn't a routine."

"Now, see, I find that a little hard to believe when I'm still trying to get the smell of  _shrimp_  out of my hair!!"

A raging sea witch was the last thing either of them wanted to deal with on their way to Dragon Hall in the morning.

"What is this, Mal? Huh?? What's in it for you?!"

"There's nothing in it for me!" Mal said in exasperation, knowing she would never get her point across to Uma. "You wouldn't get it, okay? You don't have friends."

"I don't need friends, I have a crew," Uma haughtily said.

"Well if you had  _friends_  then you'd understand wanting to protect them! What Evie and I have isn't something I can just explain to you, Uma. It's something you'd have to feel for yourself."

A dangerous idea. Mal's words inadvertently sparked in Evie's mind a very dangerous idea.

Although neither of them were keen to let it happen, Evie moved out from behind the safety of Mal, now woefully hyper-aware of the fact that Uma carried a sword around.

"Can I have your hand?" Evie sweetly asked, reaching out to Uma.

Uma's lips curled in a sneer.

"Yeah right. You think I haven't 'been there done that' with the junior mistress of evil here?"

"It's not a trick," Evie shook her head.

"E, what are you doing?" Mal worried.

"Letting her feel for herself. Uma? Your hand."

Evie didn't wait the second time around, taking Uma's hand in her own before tentatively holding it to her stomach. Her strawberry was wide awake that morning, moving and kicking and wiggling all over.

"What the heck is that?" Uma's face scrunched up like a terrible smell had wafted past, feeling it all happening right away beneath her hand.

"A baby saying hello," Evie smiled.

The pirate yanked her hand away with a distasteful frown.

"That's freaky," she grumbled bitterly.

"It's very freaky," Evie agreed with a laugh. "But I guess I'm getting used to it. It’s not as freaky anymore when I remember that she’s mine."

"How do you know it's a girl?" Uma asked.

"I don't, but I hope. After all this time I'm pretty attached to the idea of a daughter."

"And what if it's a boy?"

"Then I'll finally have a prince, and my mom can get off my case."

"So...what? You're actually  _excited_  for a rugrat?" Uma couldn't wrap her head around it.

Evie laughed.

"Mostly terrified and scared, but yes, a little excited. A baby, it's..."

"Endless possibilities," Mal finished for her.

"Exactly," Evie met Mal's perfect word choice with a smile.

"On The Isle of the Lost? Yeah right," Uma scoffed. "'Endless possibilities'. Really Mal? You call yourself a villain?"

"I don't, actually," Mal said, rather proudly. "Turns out that calling myself a friend is a lot more fun."

"...Uma, I know you're not as blind as you're pretending to be," Evie gently said. "You and Mal were friends once. You know what it's like."

Uma looked like she was rather fiercely trying to repress the memory.

"You two used to go through everything together. Mal and I, that's what we're doing now, just going through this together."

"For a snot-nosed rugrat," Uma dryly said.

"Did you know that Evie's baby knows who I am?" Mal seemed to conversationally begin, crossing her arms.

"Say what?"

"She can hear my voice, and she knows it belongs to me. She knows Evie's voice, too. And when she's born, and we talk to her for the very first time, she'll recognize us because of it."

The scrunching of Uma's features seemed to be her natural reaction to the mention of babies.

"They can do that?" she questioned skeptically.

"It's like she gets excited at the sound of Mal's voice. Sometimes a little  _too_  excited," Evie gave her best friend a playful push.

"And the sound of Evie's voice calms her down," Mal told Uma. "Because she knows that's her mom, and she knows she's safe as long as she can hear that voice."

"A mom's voice? Safe? What kind of fantasy land is  _that_  kid living in?" Uma jeered.

"...Yeah, it's different for us," Mal sympathetically agreed. "We hear the sound of our moms and we go running. But Uma, don't you get it? We all know how much that sucks, that's why we're trying to do things differently."

"Why we're going to do things differently," Evie corrected. "This is one villain kid that isn't going to feel afraid, or hated, or worthless. That's what's in it for Mal, this is her chance to make up for everything she's ever had to go through. My chance to make up for everything  _I've_  had to go through at the hands of my mother...and if you want, it can be your chance too."

Uma eyed the pretty little princess like she'd lost her mind right then and there.

_"Me?"_ she repeated, with a demanding tone in her voice meant to let Evie hear just how ridiculous she sounded. "Give a rat's behind about your kid just because we're all stuck with tragic backstories? You're crazy. Both of you. As if anything is  _ever_  going to make up for life on The Isle."

Disgusted by the thought, Uma stormed off, abandoning her morning crusade and disappearing around a corner with the stomp of her boots. Mal and Evie watched every stomp, every step, wondering just how long they could fend off the sea witch for.

"...She was letting her walls down. Just a little," Evie noted.

Mal rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, before putting them back up and reinforcing them with steel."

"It isn't as easy for her to let them stay down, Mal. The last time she did that, a certain someone buried her in shrimp," Evie narrowed her eyes.

"Was that your whole evil scheme? To make Uma care?"

"I think it could work."

"You  _are_  crazy," Mal shook her head. "Can we just get to school before we run into any more unexpected visitors?"

Although rather lost in thought, Evie agreed.

Uma on their side because of the binds of a deal was all well and good, but Uma on their side because she  _wanted_  to be? Talk about an evil scheme.

"You can't call me crazy when you were going along with it for a second there," Evie pointed out as they walked. "Telling Uma about the baby listening to our voices. I know exactly what you were up to, you were trying to fascinate her."

"You started it, making her feel all the kicks. You tried to fascinate her first."

"Could've worked," Evie firmly stuck by her scheme.

Come lunchtime, Evie's appetite had gone from practically nonexistent to purely nonexistent as she joined her friends at their usual cafeteria table without a tray or a single scrap of food.

"The teachers keep giving me the dirtiest looks," she said miserably as she sat down. "Everyone still thinks I'm nothing but a sl—"

"Don't say it," Mal interrupted.

Sweet Carlos had no idea what Evie was about to say, but he didn't let that stop his words of encouragement.

"Never mind what they think, Evie. None of them know what you're going through," he said.

"Those losers wouldn't even be brave enough to try," Jay added, shooting a scowl out over the cafeteria at no one in particular. "Having a baby isn't easy, and I know some of these rats would go running if they got so much as a paper cut."

"Having a baby isn't easy," Evie agreed, the dull aching in her back and legs proving the point.

"This  _has_  to be why our parents don't like us," Carlos muttered.

It was a harmless sentiment, perhaps even a slightly joking one, but Carlos' words inadvertently ended up plaguing Evie with the most terrible of thoughts for the rest of the school day.

"Mal..." Evie spoke as if she'd been holding in one big breath and finally got the chance to exhale as they walked the island's streets back to the hideout after school. "...What if I don't like my baby?"

The question threw Mal for a loop.

"...What? What are you talking about?"

"What Carlos said at lunch. What if our parents started out just like this? Unsure about having a baby but a little excited nonetheless, but when we were born we were just so much pain and trouble and hassle that...our parents hate us now. What if I end up hating her?"

"E, how could you ever hate her?" Mal softly said.

"I don't know, how could you ever be friends with me??" Evie tensely snapped. "People change their feelings about others, sometimes without even getting a say in the matter. What if my feelings change? What if I end up just like my mother and every other parent here on The Isle? Having a baby is supposed to be something magical, right? Well look around, Mal, we're under a magic barrier."

Mal stopped walking, her gaze sharp and locking right on Evie.

"Did the barrier stop what you felt after that first kick? Or when you called yourself mommy? What about all your laughter just the other day when she had the hiccups?"

Evie did smile at the memory.

"Of course you don't know how you'll feel about her, you haven't met her yet," Mal chuckled. "But you could never hate anyone, your heart is way too big for that. Did you hate me after I locked you in Cruella De Vil's closet and tried to feed you to the bear traps?"

"No..."

"Do you hate your mom? The crazy woman trying to torment you who you have every reason to hate?"

"...No."

"Then how are you going to hate your baby boy or baby girl?" Mal asked, very logically. "You're not, that's how."

"...What if they hate me?" Evie whispered, her voice choked and scared.

Mal cupped her hand to Evie's cheek, looking her over with a gaze that was so tender, so gentle.

"...Your kid is going to love you so much, Evie. Yeah, they'll grow up on this miserable island like every other villain kid, but they'll have something that none of the rest of us ever had...someone who cares," Mal explained. "You'll turn the lights on when it gets just a little too dark, you'll tell them they're beautiful when everyone tries to convince them they're not...you'll be a real mom, E. The kind every kid deserves, VK or not. And honestly? I can't wait to see it."

Evie fought to keep her lip from quivering as she met Mal's eyes, the warm eyes of green that were shining so sure in her words.

"...Why is it that everything you say to me makes me want to cry?" Evie sniffed.

Mal playfully patted Evie's shoulder.

"Because you're really hormonal."

They laughed together; sometimes it seemed like the only way they knew  _how_  to laugh.

"You'll be much better with baby number two," Mal went on to tease.

Evie's eyes went wide.

"Baby number—?? Mal!"

Maleficent's daughter just shrugged.

"Unless you're already having twins."

_"Mal!!”_

* * *

 

The next day made for a very strange afternoon when the pair came home from Dragon Hall to find their regularly scheduled staticky channel was replaced with something else entirely.

Evie didn't care in the slightest if it was still daylight out—school was over, and she was changing into pajamas. It was mildly horrifying to her that pregnancy had reduced her to sleeping in sweatpants and baggy, oversized shirts, but heck, they were comfortable. And after being crammed into rickety school desks at Dragon Hall all day, comfort was a much needed commodity.

"...What are you doing?" she asked as she trudged out of her room in the aforementioned pajamas.

It was a rhetorical question. With Mal kicking bitterly at the TV set and growling who-knows-what under her breath, Evie could see exactly what she was doing.

"I am not in the mood for Auradon propaganda today," Mal grumbled, fiddling with the antenna of the ancient set.

Evie settled in on the couch, avoiding the spots where springs poked through the frayed cushions.

"Propaganda?" she frowned. "What propaganda? Wait...Mal, is that Snow??"

Mal stepped back from her frustrated tv kicking to have a look at the screen. Lips red as the rose, hair black as ebony, a microphone clutched in one hand as she stood against a backdrop of Auradon's crests.

_"At last! Here we are, broadcasting live from the coronation, where Prince Benjamin will soon be crowned king! I'm Snow White, bringing you up to the second coverage of who's the fairest of them all,"_  her voice crackled through the speakers.

"She's still on that riff, huh?" Evie muttered, crossing her arms over her stomach.

"You're one to talk," Mal took a seat beside her. "...So, I guess we're getting a new king."

"The villains weren't exactly fond of the old one."

The glitzy and glamorous celebration was what came through the screen instead of the usual static and grainy picture, as if terrible reception was just yet another punishment Auradon purposely inflicted on The Isle and could control at will with the push of a button.

A towering cathedral, a rain of flowers and confetti, seas of suits and dresses on both famous and not-famous faces.

"A coronation..." Evie sighed dreamily, watching it all unfold.

"What's the big deal about a corneration?"

_"Coronation,_  Mal. It's every prince and princess' big day, the day they finally become king or queen."

Mal hardly seemed impressed.

"Who wants to be a queen?" she scoffed. "That's like, an actual job. Princesses have more fun."

"But it's so  _magical._ Look at them, Mal," Evie was fixated on the crowds of cheerful spectators, waving banners and throwing flowers. "They're all living in a fairytale...and me, I'm just living in a cautionary tale."

"One waddling cautionary tale."

"I do not waddle!!" Evie was stern until the broadcast of the coronation drew her full attention once more. "...Oh, I wish I was there. In a beautiful dress, surrounded by royalty...I bet there's a lavish after-party too, with a banquet and a dance and everything."

Mal couldn't stand that yearning in Evie's voice, the wistful and heartfelt desperation for something Mal knew her best friend couldn't have. If she had it her way Evie would get it all, but in spite of how she liked to act, the Isle of the Lost cared very little for "her way". The Isle of the Lost had Evie trapped on the wrong side of a coronation, a wonderfully royal event just begging to be graced with the presence of a princess in blue.

"...Well, I guess it doesn't matter anyway," Evie glumly said, glancing down at her stomach. "I'm sure the gentry would frown on my particular set of life choices."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mal questioned.

"It means that even if I  _was_  in Auradon for a coronation, 'Princess Evie' is one name that wouldn't end up on the list. Or, you know, 'Princess Evie and Very Small Guest'."

"'Very Small Guest'," Mal repeated with a dry chuckle. "Look, E, why don't I just turn this off?"

Mal made a reach for the remote.

"No, Mal," Evie caught her by the arm. "Please. This is as close as I'll ever get."

So Mal relented, and they watched together.

Quite the red carpet affair, with Snow White and her microphone traveling from guest to guest to scoop their fashion choices, their designer labels. Evie's repeated and slightly bitter quips of "I could've made that" at every gown and every hemline made for amusing commentary.

"So, names?" Mal prodded, spying Evie out of the corner of her eye.

"...Names? What names? Baby names??"

Mal laughed at how Evie's voice went up an octave with each question.

"Label names," she clarified. "For your fashion business. Someday you'll be in Auradon designing for all the royal occasions, you'll need  _something_  for people to say when Snow White asks 'Who are you wearing?'."

"They can't just say it's an Evie original? Pretty sure that by the time I'm designing for royal affairs everyone will know my name."

"Oh sure, follow the crowd and just use your own name."

Evie shook her head.

"It sounded exciting at first, but I really think the fashion dreams are gonna have to be put on hold, Mal. A first-time mom can't afford to be distracted," she said. "Maybe I can sew and sell enough to get by, but becoming a household name? Designer to the stars? That's just going to have to wait. This prince or princess is going to need me at home, not traipsing around the kingdom for Auradon fashion week."

Mal let her head fall lazily to the side, watching Evie, studying her.

"...You amaze me, you know that?" she said.

"...What? Why?"

"Oh, no reason. Just that I remember a certain Evie in tears crying that she couldn't be a mom, and now all of a sudden there's an Evie sitting beside me who's prepared to drop everything in her life to do just that."

"Believe me, I'm a whole world away from prepared, just...willing, I suppose."

"That's still more than any other villain parent on The Isle can say," Mal told her.

_"Oh, and here comes Ben now!!"_  Snow White cheered through the screen.

There were flowers braided within the harnesses of the horses drawing the carriage down the street, bouquets of blue and yellow. Also clad in blue and yellow was the prince, smiling pleasantly to the crowds from the carriage as he proudly wore his suit of Auradon colors. The girl at his side was dressed in sparkling pink, a golden tiara sitting pretty in her hair as she clung to the prince's arm and waved.

"...That's the prince?" Mal practically whispered. "But he's...he's  _our_  age."

"Yeah..." Evie marveled at the fact right along with her.

"They're putting a teenager in charge of the entire kingdom?"

"And here I was worried about being in charge of one person."

"Puts the whole motherhood thing into perspective, doesn't it?" Mal joked. "But geez...everything is already hard enough at our age without the weight of a kingdom being put on your shoulders too. I can't believe Auradon."

"The poor guy," Evie agreed. "He doesn't even get a chance to be himself as he grows up, he has to be busy being king."

"Like I said, an actual job. Princesses have more fun."

The prince's arrival at the cathedral's front steps was marked with trumpets and cheers as the horses slowed the carriage to a stop.

"...Even if it's better than here, I guess Auradon isn't perfect," Evie said.

Mal just agreed with a nod, continuing to watch the extravagant goings-on of the prince's big jump to king.

In the silence, with her attention drawn and focused on something else entirely, Evie had absolutely no idea how the frightening thought popped into her head and set her eyes wide with panic.

"...Mal," she said curtly, grabbing and squeezing her best friend's arm.

"What??"

"...I don't know how to change a diaper," Evie turned those panicked eyes on Mal.

"...How did you get to 'diaper' from 'coronation'?"

"M! We've been so focused on  _finding_  the baby stuff that we don't know how to  _do_ the baby stuff! Sure, I've got a nursery set up, that's all fine and dandy, but do I know how to give a baby a bath?"

"Soap and water."

Evie whapped Mal on the arm, not keen on her dry humor.

"Okay, ow," Mal frowned. "Do you want the laptop?"

"I want the laptop."

"Alright, I'm getting the laptop. And E? Relax," Mal took her best friend's hand. "I'll be with you, remember? From the second your little strawberry is born to the very first diaper change and the very first bath. Maybe neither of us will know what we're doing, but we've figured out everything else so far, haven't we? Together. Nothing is going to take me away from you."

Evie's panic faded just the slightest from her face.

"And if Jay ever laughs at the two of us trying to change a diaper then he gets automatic dibs on changing the next one," Mal added, only partially kidding.

Coronation completely forgotten by the both of them, Mal got up to find Carlos' laptop, knowing their next hour or so (with horrible connection) would be spent filling the screen with search after search in a crash course on baby care.

"See? I told you, I'm a whole world away from prepared," Evie fretted. "I'm not ready for  _any_  of this."

"You're as ready as you can be," Mal assured her, returning to her side with the laptop in tow. "The Isle of the Lost doesn't exactly make for ideal conditions. You're doing the best you can with what you've got. Evie?"

"What?"

Mal looked very seriously into her eyes.

"...Have I told you that I'm really, really proud of you?"

Evie's recent sleep deprivation at the hands of an aching body and an energetic baby made details fuzzy.

"...I don't know, M," she quietly said.

"Then in that case, I'm really, really proud of you. From the minute you found out you were pregnant The Isle threw terrible odds at you, but you beat every single one of them. I like having a tough best friend."

Evie laughed a little, leaning over as comfortably as she could to rest on Mal's shoulder.

"I like having a sweet best friend," she murmured.

"So you're the tough one and I'm the sweet one? Dang. Don't tell anyone, Evie. I have a reputation to keep."

Another laugh, another smile, another small weight lifted from Evie's chest and another dark cloud cleared away from her head.

"I promise."


	6. Chapter 6

Evie's late nights quickly became Mal's late nights too. The urge to check on her throughout the night often led to Mal wandering her way across the hideout, where—no surprise—she'd find poor Evie awake with hazy eyes that were just desperate for some rest.

"...Hey sleepyhead," Mal softly greeted her tonight, spying the light from under Evie's door and poking her head into the room.

Evie was sitting up in her bed, a mountain of pillows propped up behind her and rubbing at her eyes.

"Have you gotten  _any_  sleep tonight?" Mal asked, shutting the door behind her and drawing towards Evie's bed.

"Oh sure. Like twenty minutes' worth," Evie muttered miserably. "If something doesn't hurt, then I'm running to the bathroom. If I'm not running to the bathroom, then something hurts. Sometimes it feels like I'll never get a good night's sleep again."

"Don't worry, as soon as you have the baby you'll probably pass out and sleep like a log. You'll have earned it," Mal said soothingly.

"Would you watch her for me?"

"I'd guard her with my life," Mal sat down on the edge of Evie's bed, lazily rubbing her best friend's stomach. "Strawberry will be safe and sound with Aunt Mal while you sleep."

Evie's heavy eyelids fell shut practically of their own accord, cruelly teasing her with rest even though she knew none was forthcoming.

"Try sleeping on your other side," Mal suggested, taking a few pillows from Evie's horde and arranging them for her.

Evie needed slight assistance from Mal to get there, but she did end up snug on her side and hoping this way would work out better.

"Still the fairest of them all," Mal said, brushing back the hair that fell into Evie's face.

"Hardly. I don't even  _want_  to know what I weigh now."

"You can't see any difference...you're  _so_  beautiful, E."

Evie opened one eye and smiled up at Mal.

"Am I just always beautiful to you?" she asked.

"Not only to me. You're just always beautiful," Mal let her fingers run through the strands of blue.

She curled up too on the bed, but flipped herself upside down so her head laid close to the baby.

"...She's asleep," Mal said, forehead resting against Evie's stomach and noting the stillness.

"One of us has to be. Like it's some unwritten rule that we can't both be asleep at the same time."

Mal herself could easily fall asleep right there, exactly as she was.

"She’ll be here soon, E."

"Probably another reason why I can't sleep," Evie mumbled into her pillow.

"Well, at least you know how to change a diaper now."

"Theoretically. Yet I still don't know where I'm going to have the baby, or even how I’m going to, or what to do if he or she gets sick... _when_ he or she gets sick..."

Evie was right; such fears and worries were probably keeping her up at night more than any physical discomfort ever could.

"Do you think our moms were experts when we were born? Heck, do you think they're experts  _now?"_  Mal reasoned.

"I know it won't be perfect, I know  _I_  won't be perfect...but M, I just want so badly to be."

"That's the Evil Queen talking," Mal said matter-of-factly. "You need to get her out of your head."

"...Tomorrow," Evie yawned.

A yawn was a promising sign, one that prompted Mal to get up as gingerly as she could to turn off Evie's lamp.

"Stay in here," Evie whispered, lips barely moving as  _finally_  she was so close to sleep.

So Mal got up to both turn off the lamp and pull the covers back to tuck the two of them underneath, sharing in Evie's pillow.

"...I'm grateful, Mal," Evie said into the silence.

"Grateful? For what?"

"...If it wasn't for an unexpected baby then you and I might've never become the family that we are now."

One of life's strange and funny truths if Mal had ever heard one.

"...Yeah, Evie," she smiled in the dark. "I'm grateful too."

* * *

"You know, Mal, down here you're in  _my_ territory. And I want you out."

The grayish water lapped close to Mal's feet on the dingy beach beneath the soft bluffs. Only on The Isle could something as picturesque as a beach be tainted, with a perpetually overcast sky, trash in the sand, a foul smell wafting from the waves.

"It's a free ocean," she said to Uma behind her, tossing a rock into the water in a failed attempt to see if it would skip.

"No it's not. It's my ocean. Go back to your hideout and play house with the princess."

Mal turned around to face Uma, Uma who had that never-ending sour scowl stuck on her expression.

"Why do you hate what we're doing?" she asked. "What is so wrong about taking care of a baby?"

"Do you hear yourself? Your mother made a name out of cursing babies, and here you are trying to care for one!"

"I'm not my mother," Mal shook her head. "I don't  _want_ to be my mother. Can you honestly say you want to be yours? Because if memory serves, our moms being themselves got them both stuck to the pointy ends of sharp objects."

"You're pathetic."

Mal rolled her eyes.

"Well, you definitely sound like your mom, I'll give you that," she said.

"Why are you here, Mal?"

Mal didn't have a snappy response ready and waiting for that one.

"...I don't know. I figured it would be a decent place to think, I guess. Before a baby is born and cries so much that I can't even  _hear_  myself think," Mal laughed.

"It would serve you right, agreeing to do this," Uma sternly crossed her arms.

"Of course I agreed. I'd do anything for Evie. There used to be a time when I'd do anything for you, too."

"Bullcrap," Uma bitterly snapped, the Shrimpy incident front and center in her mind.

"...I'm sorry. I'm sure you don't care to hear it, but I'm sorry."

Mal picked up another rock from the sand, gave it another toss into the sea.

"But hey, you know what's funny?" she asked Uma.

"The fact that I'm still standing here wasting my time?"

"No, the fact that you and I didn't really turn out all that different. We both want to be free of The Isle. Now that Evie is pregnant, it's what I want more than anything."

"Fat chance, Mal," Uma scoffed. "Our parents have tried,  _I've_  tried—there's no way to get past the magic barrier."

Mal looked down at her feet to kick bottles and boxes out of the way before she had a seat down in the sand, just out of reach of the tide.

"Evie and I have this game we like to play, where we imagine what we'd be doing if we were in Auradon."

"What good does that do?"

"It helps take her mind off things, I suppose," Mal shrugged. "And mine too. There's a lot of things on your mind when your best friend is like, just a few months away from becoming a mother."

"Yeah? Imagine how much is on the princess' mind," Uma, despite how much she enjoyed looking down on Mal, lowered herself to sit in the gritty sand as well. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again; you two are crazy."

Mal nodded.

"Very."

"This isn't like that stray cat we found when we were little, Mal. You can't just toss a kid out when you get tired of having it around."

"Really? I thought you of all people would tell me the exact opposite."

"Mal," Uma frowned. "Even if it's not yours, having a kid around messes up your whole life. It'll mess up Evie's life."

"Our lives were already messed up. This is going to make them better," Mal firmly said.

Uma sighed a grumpy and disdainful sigh.

"I don't know how many times I gotta tell you you've lost every bit of sense in your head."

Mal laughed.

"Evie does that to me. Sense and sensibility just fly right out the window when she needs me...sorry it took me this long to learn how to be a good friend."

_"Do not_  get soft on me," Uma warned. "That's just sick."

"Well, it's a good thing I don't live at home anymore, I'd never hear the end of it from my mom," Mal realized.

"I'd never hear the end of this stupid bodyguarding deal from  _my_  mom."

Mal turned to Uma and held out her pinky.

"I won't tell your mom if you don't tell my mom," she said.

Uma scornfully narrowed her eyes at Mal's offered pinky.

"What do I look like? Five?" she sharply demanded.

Mal didn't waiver.

"We promise, got it?" she urged.

Hardly giving Uma a choice. The pirate rolled her eyes, regretting the decision to come and harass Mal in the first place but reluctantly giving in to wrap her pinky around Mal's.

"We promise." 

* * *

Evie wasn't looking for anything in particular as she wandered the market stalls, except maybe a chance to stretch her legs. It was strange to not have Mal with her, but with a tiny smile hiding on her lips as she walked around, Evie couldn't be perturbed by it—after all, she realized, it wasn't like she was alone. The air was far from fresh, and filled with the din of dealers shouting prices and enticements from behind their stands, but it was just another day in the life on The Isle.

Flashes of color caught her eye at the stand where she always bought her sewing materials, where she traded her dirty and rusty coins for fabrics and accessories. The drawers back at the hideout were full of handmade baby clothes—some less than perfect as Evie tried to get the initial hang of onesies—but with the little prince or princess well stocked up on outfits, Evie wondered if she should browse a bit for her own personal good, for her own personal designs.

She didn't know the lady behind the counter by name, despite how incredibly much she'd shopped there, but still Evie greeted her with a friendly smile as she approached and tried to ignore the way the woman's sharp eyes passed right over her and went to glare at her stomach. She was allowed to look in peace, to study different colors side by side and feel the fabric between her fingertips, imagination running wild at what she might be able to create. Yes, being a world-renowned designer was going to have to wait, but that didn't mean she couldn't dabble.

"...Must be so scary, at your age."

The voice came from behind her, turning her around to face a woman in a long and drab dress, toting around a little boy of about four or five in a faded red wagon. She was eyeing Evie's baby bump too, but not with the cruel judgement or disgust that so many others tended to eye her with.

"...It is. But I think I'm getting used to it," Evie said to her. "I've had the best help any scared girl could ask for."

"That's good," the woman smiled at her. Evie never realized how strikingly out of place the gesture was from someone on The Isle until just that moment.

"But I worry so much," Evie blurted in a rush, like floodgates beginning to crack and break.

"Because there's so little here on the Isle of the Lost?" the woman guessed.

Evie nodded helplessly.

"It's true, it takes a lot," the woman agreed. "A lot of things, a lot of time...but at the end of the day, or when worst comes to worst, all a child really needs is its mother."

Evie never, ever thought she'd hear such words from a stranger on The Isle, or feel the lighthearted warmth that came with them.

"Well, she definitely has that," she said.

"She?"

"Fingers crossed."

The woman laughed, and started on her way again with an easy smile as she pulled the wagon and her son behind her.

"Fingers crossed. Good luck, and congratulations."

Congratulations. Not a single soul had ever thought to offer those to her, not even Mal. Congratulations. Like Evie had finally done something right. 

Something good.

"...Thank you," she whispered in the woman's wake, voice too stunned silent to really be heard by her.

"Oh, so you're talking to strangers in the marketplace now? Unbelievable."

The saying was supposed to be  _"One good turn deserves another"._  On the Isle of the Lost, it was more like  _"One good turn deserves a bad"_. It seemed to happen very fast; the chilling voice, the vise-like grip clamping around her arm and the sharp nails digging into her skin, the searing lightning bolt of pain in her shoulder as that grip gave her a fierce yank and dragged her off into a shaded and shady alleyway.

One never-ending nightmare.

The brick wall hurt as she was backed up against it, left to stumble wildly for a second as the grip tossed her into the dark like a piece of trash. Evie winced, heart pounding painfully beneath her ribs.

"What are you doing here??" she demanded. "How did you—??"

"Did you really think a queen would be intimidated by a filthy band of pirates?" Evie's mother asked. "Did you think I'd stand to let them follow me around all day like petty thieves and pickpockets?"

Evie's lip trembled terribly with a threatening flood of frightened tears. Back literally against the wall like a feeble creature caught in a trap, again woefully alone as she found herself at the merciless whims of her villainous mother; seven months pregnant didn't exactly put Evie in a position to fight.

"...W-Why can't you just leave me alone?" she cried.

She spoke as if these horrifying run-ins with her mother were commonplace, like a week just wasn't a week without being backed into a corner with a glinting glare of daggers piercing her body and soul. No, these run-ins weren't at all commonplace, only twice now had Evie found herself a victim of the Evil Queen's anger, but that didn't mean her mother hadn't terrorized the deepest reaches of her mind every day since the dark confrontation in her room at the hideout.

"I'm here to fix your mistakes, Evie dear. It's what mothers do," the Evil Queen coldly said.

"...You don't care about me," Evie sniffed. "You're only here because you hate how me being pregnant is ruining your reputation. You don't care that I'm the town slut, you just care that you're the mother of the town slut!"

"Indeed I am," poison dripped thickly from the Evil Queen's voice. "And it ends now."

"No, mom, it doesn't end. I won't always be pregnant, but I  _will_  always be someone's mother. That won't change. It can't."

"Abandon the ridiculous optimism and abandon your child."

The last time they'd met, Evie had literally been treated to a slap in the face. And though her mother raised no palm, gave her no strike, still Evie somehow felt a second stinging slap across her very being.

"...What did you just say?" now it was Evie who dared to speak with poison.

The Evil Queen gestured with a bit of a flourish to their dank and dirty surroundings.

"Look around you. The Isle of the Lost is full of dark places waiting to eat little children alive. How long do you think a newborn in a shoebox will last alone in an alley like this?"

Another ghostly slap across Evie's face.

"This island is a land of the forgotten, Evie dear. In time, people can forget about  _this_  too, but not with a bastard child constantly clinging to your leg like a little lost dog looking for a home."

Seven months pregnant didn't put Evie in a position to fight, but in that one moment, it didn't mean she wasn't going to try. She shoved her mother back, out of her face, refusing to stay pinned to the wall any longer.

"I am  _not_  abandoning her in a disgusting alleyway! I'm not abandoning her at all!!" Evie shouted.

The Evil Queen didn't take too kindly to having hands laid on her, straightening out her robes with a yank and raising her voice to drown out her daughter's.

"You're sixteen years old, Evie! Do you honestly believe a child is better off with you?!"

"If the choice is between me and an alley, then yes! What's the deal here, mom? I give up my baby, come home, fall right back into the routine of your boy-chasing, and then what? Wind up pregnant  _again?_  Is that what you want?? When will enough be enough for you?"

The Evil Queen's face flushed red with her wrath, an unattractive show that her conceited self thankfully couldn't see.

"...The Isle has already taken so much from me," Evie said quietly. "...It can't have my son or daughter, too. I won't do it, mom. I won't take your easy way out and pretend that none of this ever happened. Maybe  _you_  would've been better off leaving your kid in an alley, but me? I'm raising mine."

Evie found herself more afraid of the sudden, out-of-place calm that settled over her mother's face than she was of the beet-red rage. Only a queen was master of such instant, glassy composure. Only a queen could speak soft words with sharp, jagged edges.

"The Isle of the Lost is a very dangerous place for a child," she cooly said. "Villains, thieves, mad lions and hungry crocodiles...a young girl could get into all sorts of trouble trying to raise a baby here. Maybe you and your child will come to learn that the Sleeping Death isn't just bound to apples."

The sound of a glinting steel sword being drawn from its sheath was an unmistakable one.

"Bet."

And suddenly Evie wasn't quite so alone anymore.

"Uma!!"

Never did she think she'd ever cry out the pirate captain's name in such overwhelming relief.

Blade and gaze both trained squarely on the Evil Queen, Uma made her way down into the alley.

"See, your majesty, maybe  _you_  can slip away from a pirate detail, but the deal was to have eyes on Evie too, and eyes notice when she gets dragged off into the back streets against her will."

Uma put herself between Evie and the queen, fearing no royal wrath because  _she_  was the only one out of the three of them holding tightly to a sword.

"I'm getting very tired of you pirates," Evie's mother sneered the word, almost growled it, like some disgusting taste she hated to let past her lips. "Very tired of you indeed."

"Feeling's mutual," Uma nodded. "Boys!!"

With devious cackles they appeared as if from thin air and charged from opposite ends of the alleyway; Harry, son of Captain Hook, and Gil, son of Gaston. Armed with coils of rope they looked remarkably like mischievous little boys as they ambushed the Evil Queen and raced around and around to tie her up. Her arms pinned tight to her sides, she wriggled and fought, futilely trying to escape amidst fiery demands that she be let go at once.

"Tying knots comes naturally on a ship, your majesty," Harry Hook grinned. "You won't find yourself gettin' out of that one anytime soon."

Uma could feel Evie's stunned and disbelieving gaze on her.

"I got tired of babysitting," she shrugged nonchalantly.

"Evie!! You have these degenerates release me  _right now!!"_  the Evil Queen demanded.

"Or what?" Gil scoffed with a laugh. "It's off with our heads?"

"Wrong queen, Gil," Uma dryly said.

"Maybe we should've considered a muzzle, eh?" Harry wondered, holding tight to his end of the rope and watching the Evil Queen squirm and fume and practically swear vengeance.

Uma ignored it, sheathing her sword and turning around to face Evie.

"Fun fact, princess. Outside of town? There's a whole ring of abandoned circus wagons going nowhere fast, put out of business forever ago and tossed here on The Isle. Something about a flying elephant. Point is, they're all empty, and all just the perfect size for a queen."

"...You want to lock my mother up?" Evie said quietly, realizing what Uma was getting at.

"Me? No, all I want is to be back on my ship with a hot cup of tea and a good book," Uma cruelly mocked. "What I  _want_  is to have this over and done with so me and my crew here can get back to our real work without having to tail you and mommy dearest up and down the island!! If she's locked up, she's out of your hair. If she's out of your hair, then you're out of  _my_  hair. What do you say?"

"...Say  _yes,"_  Gil urgently whispered, thinking Evie was the only one who could hear him in the narrow alleyway where they all stood mere feet apart.

"Don't you dare," Evie's mother snapped.

In lieu of a muzzle, Harry raised his shining hook in her face, threatening without a single word.

"On my ship, in my crew, we can do this one of two ways," Uma went on. "She either gets the brig, or she walks the plank. Choice is yours."

"...But she's my mom," Evie whispered, helpless at such a choice.

Leave it to a lifetime of brainwashing to make this a difficult decision for her.

"Tick tock, lassie," Harry and his vicious grin weren't intending to make things any easier.

"Let me put it to you like this since you're so soft in the head," Uma offered. "She gets the brig, or she walks the plank; only one of those options turns her into shark food."

Talk about the lesser of two evils.

"...Lock her up," Evie slowly nodded before hanging her head.

"Smart girl," Uma smirked. "Boys, there's a cage outside of town with the Evil Queen's name on it."

She fought and yelled and cursed all the way, but with tugs of their ropes Gil and Harry dragged Evie’s mother down the alley and off to be their new prisoner.

"Gotta love the street cred you get from taking a queen hostage," Uma chuckled, watching them leave. Soon it was just her and Evie.

"...She'll be okay, right?" Evie wondered. "You're not just going to throw her behind bars and forget about her?"

"So what if we do?" Uma snapped.

How strange it was for the hurt and worry she saw reflected on Evie's face to suddenly soften her own stern and indifferent features.

"...She'll be fine," the pirate said with a defeated roll of the eyes. "It's a prison, not a death sentence."

"Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference here," Evie muttered, casting her eyes down at the ground. "But even if she's locked away, and I'm safe from her...that won't always stop her from being in my head."

"Nope," Uma readily agreed. "That's on you."

"...But Uma, I don't know  _how_  to stop her from being in my head."

Uh oh. A crying girl. Uma wasn't quite sure how to handle that one.

"...Well not overnight, that's for sure," she ventured a guess. "Look, you don't even  _need_  to know, that's what you've got Mal for."

Mal. Evie so very desperately wanted to be with Mal right now.

"...Uma, thank you."

A hug. Uma  _definitely_  wasn't sure how to handle that one.

"Thank you for saving me, and watching out for me, even if it was only part of your deal," Evie said as she hugged Uma as close as her tummy would allow. "You could've easily turned us down when we came to you for help, but you didn't, so for that, thank you."

A display like that made it easy for Uma to see how Mal could say that sense and sensibility flew out the window where Evie was concerned. Evie, with her hugs and her thanks and her stupid heart concerning itself with the well-being of people who brought her nothing but fear and torment.

Evie, who Mal would do anything for. Uma perhaps was suddenly, frightfully, beginning to understand why.

"...You're welcome."

* * *

"You  _rescued_  her??" Mal said in astonishment after she'd finally gotten her fill of hugging Evie.

Uma, kicked back on the sofa in the hideout with her boots up on the table, crossed her arms and shot a scowl Mal's way.

"Don't call it that. Makes it sound all noble."

"You rescued me from my mother," Evie insisted, smiling and holding Mal's hand after they'd let go of each other.

"I'm a pirate. I take royals hostage. It's in my job description," Uma dryly insisted.

"...Then, the Evil Queen?" Mal began.

"...Won't be bothering me for a while, it seems," Evie finished for her. "Like you've always said, she's got nothing without her magic, and without her magic she's just a queen in a cage."

"She's not like Mal's mom, either, with a herd of goblins and goons working for her. No flunkies around to bust her out," Uma added.

Mal's smile was so soft, so relieved.

"Then you're safe, E," she said, pressing her free hand to Evie's tummy. "Both of you."

She sat Evie down beside Uma on the couch, letting her rest after what had to have been a draining afternoon.

"...It still feels like I'll see her, though," Evie quietly admitted. "Like somehow she'll get loose and come after me with so much fury that—"

"Ain't gonna happen," Uma interrupted. "When someone's my prisoner, they stay my prisoner."

Mal, comfortable next to Evie, leaned over her best friend and held her pinky out to Uma.

"You promise?" she teased.

"We are  _not_ doing that again," the pirate snapped.

"What about your favor?" Mal wondered as she settled back in her seat. "If you and your crew don't have to watch over Evie anymore—"

"You still owe it to me. And I'll call on it when I call on it. You either answer, or you end up in the cage right next to the Evil Queen."

Mal narrowed her eyes, not keen on being threatened by the likes of Uma, but letting it pass on account of saving Evie.

"I told you, I'll answer."

"Good."

Done with the conversation and done with the accusations of heroics, Uma stood up, ready to leave the pair behind and return to her ship.

"...Uma, wait," Mal hurried to her feet too, catching up with Uma on her unceremonious way out.

She sighed heavily, as if seconds away from making a reach for her sword.

"Aren't we done here?" she questioned.

"Thank you," Mal sincerely said, ignoring Uma's ire.

"Getting a little tired of hearing that."

"Well I won't get tired of saying it. Thank you for being there for her when I wasn't. Thank you for doing something about the Evil Queen when I couldn't...thank you for not letting the animosity between us get in the way of helping Evie. Letting something happen to her could've easily been your revenge on me, but...you didn't take it."

"No, I didn't. Even pirates have a code, Mal."

With just that, Uma left; Mal listened to the sound of her footsteps descending all the way down the clanging metal stairway outside before she made her return to Evie.

"...So, rescued by pirates," Mal chuckled as she sat down. "There's a bedtime story for strawberry when she's born."

"I'll say," Evie laughed too.

The lighthearted mood was dampened slightly by Mal's fists, clenching themselves tight.

"Believe it or not, it's a good thing Uma was the one who found you. If it were me, I...well, there's no telling what I would've said or done to the Evil Queen," she said darkly.

"If Uma hadn't showed up there's no telling what  _I_  would've said or done," Evie called to mind the memory of shoving her mother away, daring to put a hand on her.

"...You would've gone mama bear on her, that's for sure," Mal proudly said, liking the fire in Evie's eyes.

"Let her be a lesson to anyone else who tries to threaten my kid."

Mal definitely liked that fire in Evie's eyes.

"Listen to you," she was very impressed. "It's like with every day you're more and more ready to be a mom."

"Well, let's see. My dresser drawer once full of skirts is now full of onesies, I can theoretically change a diaper..."

"You scolded Carlos the other day for talking with his mouth full..."

"Oh my gosh," Evie giggled, burying her face into her hands in embarrassment. "I did, I really did."

They laughed, laughed until Mal comfortably laid her head on Evie's shoulder.

"...I'll miss this, though," Mal sighed a bit. "As excited as I am to meet my niece or nephew, I'll miss the days when it was just you and me."

Evie wasn't perturbed by the admission, not at all, not as she laced her fingers with Mal's and squeezed her hand tight.

"...M, it will always be you and me. When the baby's tucked into the crib that you helped build, fast asleep in the nursery our friends helped create, the two of us will come right here to this exact spot, and it'll be just you and me. But everything in our lives will be so much warmer and brighter because there'll be a baby who's not afraid to laugh and not afraid to smile, a baby who will find something fascinating and exciting in every gray corner of this island."

"Yeah, I guess babies do that," Mal realized with a tiny smile of her own.

"Carlos will be there to make the funny faces, Jay will be there to rock her to sleep..." Evie wistfully mused. "...And I think I have a name."

Mal's ears perked up, instantly alert as she lifted her head.

"A baby name??"

"A label name," Evie laughed. "For the day when everyone in the kingdom is clamoring to have an Evie original hanging somewhere in their closets...'Evie's Five Hearts'."

Mal repeated it over and over again in her head before she said it out loud.

"'Evie's Five Hearts'...sounds perfect, E."


	7. Chapter 7

Evie had never explicitly labeled herself as a morning person, but still she often tended to maintain a rather chipper and grump-free disposition upon waking, as opposed to a certain purple-haired villainess whose name shall remain Mal-less. No, she'd never once thrown the covers off in the morning to greet the ugly Isle sunlight and total absence of birdsong with a smile, but she never found herself cursing and rueing the day, either.

Until a stomach the size of a basketball went and made everything that much harder.

From beginning to almost-end, Mal had kept up with all her homework, and had all the answers for her best friend. Evie spent all day and all night running to the bathroom because a baby decided to turn her poor bladder into a squeeze toy. Evie had trouble going up the stairs of the hideout because a baby and her lungs were fighting for very limited space. There was a very scientifically sound reason for why Evie's mornings (and subsequent afternoons and evenings) were getting rougher and tougher—pregnancy sucked.

Mal stuck her head in on a rainy Saturday morning to find Evie buried in her pillow fort. Laying on her side with a pillow under her head, a pillow under her tummy, pillows propped up behind her; a very comical sight.

"...E?" Mal whispered.

Mal had never poked a bear with a stick before, but waking Evie up nowadays felt like a very similar experience.

"Evie?" she tried again, stepping further into the room.

Evie didn't stir. Mal didn't know how much sleep she'd gotten or how many times she'd woken up during the night, and hated to disturb what appeared to be a sound rest.

One of these days, she'd learn.

Standing over Evie's bedside, Mal brushed a finger back and forth across her cheek.

"Evie," she said, forgoing the whispers.

Her touch always seemed to garner a response from Evie, and the girl started to grumble and growl into her pillow as she was roused from her sleep.

_"What?"_  Evie hissed.

Just like poking a bear with a stick.

"It's morning, E. You want breakfast? We have cereal. It's stale cereal, but, you know, it's got marshmallows."

"Stale marshmallows," Evie bitterly mumbled, blindly grabbing a pillow from her fort and dragging it on top of her head.

Mal right away regretted waking her. She circled around the bed, climbing up behind Evie and moving the pillows aside so she could massage gentle circles around her back with the heel of her hand.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

Evie took a moment to get her wits about her, to lay there and root out how she actually felt in the sleepy morning haze. Terrible, for sure. Sore and aching, definitely. A little nauseous, possibly, but mainly?

"...Scared," she whispered.

Mal froze for a moment.

"...Because you're so close?" she guessed.

Evie nodded miserably.

"...I'm scared too," Mal admitted, thawing out and continuing her massaging circles. "But what I feel is nothing compared to what you feel, I know that."

"I’m don't think I know  _how_  to have a baby, M," Evie whispered fearfully, hugging a pillow close.

"...That's okay. You don't have to know how. When you're ready you'll just hold my hand, and I'll hold you...we'll find our way through it together, and at the end the little strawberry will be here. As my mom would say, 'easy-peasy'."

"It's not easy, and it's not peasy," Evie flatly said.

"...Well, no. But here on The Isle, the things that are worth it never are."

"And what makes you think it's so worth it?" Evie asked over her shoulder.

"Because I was there when the baby kicked for the first time. When we gave you the crib. When you called yourself mommy. And I saw how happy it all made you. Anything that makes you happy is worth it, Evie."

Finally, Evie smiled.

"Like you."

"Like me? Even though I'm the one who just woke you up from a sound sleep?" Mal joked.

"It wasn't sound," Evie laughed tiredly, lifting her head and moving to sit up. "I guess she's just anxious to get here."

When Evie was up, yawning and rubbing her eyes, Mal sat there next to her and simply studied her.

It felt as if eight months had just flown by. That very first day Mal saw the test in Evie's hands seemed like both a lifetime ago and just yesterday. No one could have told her that Evie would ever come into her life. The prim little girl locked away inside her castle because Mal didn't get an invite to her birthday party? The insufferable princess who ten years later stood for everything Mal couldn't stand? Mal would've knocked senseless any poor unfortunate soul who dared try to tell her that she and Evie would become the best and closest of friends.

But then, to go and tell her that her best and closest friend would suddenly have her world turned completely upside-down? And that Mal would step up and stand by her without a second's hesitation? At the beginning, Mal was still trying to figure out what exactly it meant to be a best friend. Now, eight months later, she surely had her answer.

"You said something about breakfast?" Evie murmured, stifling another yawn.

"Stale breakfast," Mal reminded her.

"I'll take what I can get."

So they left Evie's bed in a rumpled disarray to move their morning out into the hideout's living room, Mal turning on the lamps and fairy lights against the rainy gloom and Evie turning the tv on to flicker and flash. Seemed that even weeks later, nine times out of ten they flipped their meager selection of channels to find repeat broadcasts of Prince (now King) Ben's coronation. As Mal would expertly call it, "propaganda". Attempts to brainwash The Isle's villains with images of goodness and nobility like the many now-graffitied posters of the former King Beast plastered all over the island, spouting a tired  _"Don't be mad, be glad!"_  in Auradon blue letters.

"Evie, don't watch that," Mal gently said from what passed as the kitchen. She knew it would bring nothing but wistful sighs and painful longing from her.

"...It's okay," Evie wasn't the least bit convincing, already riveted on the screen with a yearning gaze.

To put a princess in a prison was unbelievably cruel. How very bitterly unjust for an innocent child and her own innocent child to be trapped in a wasteland for the crimes of one mother. Evie suddenly didn't feel quite so bad that her mom was stuck behind bars miles and miles away.

Mal came to sit beside her, handing over a bowl of cereal.

"I bet if you tried you could balance that on your stomach," she said.

"I'm not going to try," Evie laughed.

"Aw mom, you're no fun," Mal joked.

That brought a real smile out of Evie.

"You see?" Mal nodded knowingly.  "It makes you happy."

"Never thought it would," Evie said in amazement. "Having a baby was never on my to-do list. Not just at sixteen, but ever. Designer, girlfriend, eventual queen...'mom' wasn't at all a goal."

Evie's words soured the taste of Mal's breakfast a bit.

"Evie, you didn't...those guys you were with, you didn't actually consider yourself a girlfriend, did you?"

The mere thought of it made Mal's heart sink to the pit of her stomach. Thankfully, Evie shook her head.

"No, I didn't...as far as I was concerned, I was just doing what my mother asked of me. You know, like cleaning my room or taking out the trash," she said lamentably. "...And mom never wanted me to be someone's girlfriend here. That honor was supposed to be reserved for a prince."

Mal swirled her cereal around with her spoon as she listened.

"M, I haven't thought about a single one of them in forever. You know that. I've had too much else to think about."

"You have."

"And I'm sure that's another thing my mom hated, the fact that having a baby to take care of would've ruined my dating life. Or, you know,  _her_  dating life, if we're getting technical...hey, M?"

"Hm?"

Evie's eyes widened in utter surprise as the realization that had just sprung to life inside her head became more and more real.

"...I think this is the first time in my life that something's been up to me," she said in awe. "It may have been an accident, but...it's  _my_  accident. For as long as I can remember my mom has always told me where to go, what to do, how to behave...but not this time."

Mal leaned forward to set her own cereal bowl down on the coffee table in front of her.

"And I think that's why it makes you so happy, Evie. Boy or girl, prince or princess...this baby is the first thing that's ever really been yours. And you know what? If Mother Gothel can raise a baby in a medieval tower, then you can definitely raise one in a place that actually has electricity."

Evie's laughter was so genuine and light, like that of a completely different Evie than the one who had woken up scared and unsure on the wrong side of the bed.

"Uh oh, she's awake," Evie said in amusement, her laughter garnering her wiggles and squirms.

Mal made quite the picture, the once self-proclaimed child-hater coming in close to Evie's tummy.

"Hey kid," she greeted. "Morning. Did you sleep okay? Of course you did, Aunt Mal's been singing you to sleep every night."

"Aunt Mal should be singing to  _me._ ”

"E," Mal chuckled. "If I'm singing to her then I'm singing to you. You're kind of a package deal."

"Then when am  _I_  going to start sleeping okay?" Evie groaned.

"What if you sleep with me tonight?" Mal easily suggested. "So far there hasn't been a single night at my side where you weren't able to fall asleep. It's like your safety net."

"Like a hammock," Evie still had sleep on the brain.

Her attention settled back on the tv and the coronation reruns once more. Mal sat up and away from Evie's stomach, making a reach for her cereal again. A quiet morning, rain pattering on the roof. If Evie didn't know any better, she'd almost daresay she felt something in that moment rather akin to...peace.

"...No, Mal, this was never an ideal situation," Evie mused on a thoughtful sigh as she watched the tv. "If my mother ever got anything right, it's that I was always meant for Auradon. The parties, and the regality, the glitz and glamor. Not scraping by on The Isle and worrying about feeding a mouth when sometimes I have trouble feeding my own."

"Not ideal," Mal solemnly agreed.

"Not at all. So maybe I don't get the coronation, or the castle, or the crown, maybe there's no changing that now. But what I  _do_ get is someone to hug when I need it the most, someone who will smile at me on dark days and make everything so much brighter...someone who's going to see everyday that I'm not perfect, but will still adore me anyway."

Mal let her head lazily fall to the side, looking over at Evie.

"You talking about me or the kid?" she teased.

"Well if I have the both of you then I really can't complain, can I?"

"Except for the insomnia, the backaches, the peeing every hour," Mal listed them off on her fingers.

Evie rolled her eyes.

"Thank you, Mal. Thank you for that."

"You're welcome."

* * *

 

Evie had absolutely meant what she'd been saying right from the very beginning—she didn't want Mal's selfless dedication to her getting in the way of Mal living her life. If Mal wanted to stay glued to her side, okay, but Evie hated to think of Mal feeling like she  _had_  to stay glued to her side. So she wasn't going to say anything when Mal started ducking out after school, making sure Evie was cozy in the hideout before taking off with a "Back in an hour", "Back in two", or a “Back before midnight”. Evie didn't ask, and Mal didn't answer. They'd spent less and less time together over the last few weeks, and that was perfectly fine.

But with Evie officially in "any day now" territory, how she sorely wished that Mal would stick around. Every night tucked beside her, Evie fell asleep anxiously wondering and worrying if tomorrow would be the day her little strawberry was born. With such fretful thoughts, if she hadn't been laying her head down with Mal then she probably wouldn't be falling asleep at all. There was no plan, no hospital to head to when Evie felt that the time had come. All they really had were Mal's good intentions.

Sitting alone on the couch and trying very hard to focus her racing mind on her homework, Evie would gladly take Mal's good intentions right about now.

Mal returned on that particular day just as afternoon was preparing to turn into evening, backpack still slung over her shoulder as she hadn't even dropped it off at the hideout when she dropped Evie off.

"Hey," Mal greeted, letting the backpack fall right at her feet.

She came up behind the couch, hugging Evie around the shoulders.

"How are you?" Mal asked.

Evie could only answer with a very strained sigh.

"...Is that so?" Mal frowned, rubbing Evie's shoulders.

"No, it's...I'm fine, Mal," Evie said, her voice tensely shaking ever so slightly.

"...Yeah. Same," Mal too was about as "fine" as Evie was.

She came around to the front of the couch, her gaze never leaving the sight of her best friend.

"What are you doing?" Mal wondered.

"...Trying to focus and finish what may very well be the last of my homework before I have to become a dropout."

Mal leaned in to absentmindedly tuck Evie's hair behind her ear, out of her face as she pored over her notebook.

"There's entirely too much on your mind right now for you to focus on homework. For you to even  _think_  about homework," she said. "...This isn't what you need. I know what you need."

She yanked Evie's notebook out of her hands with a wild snatch, her pencil too, flinging both to the floor.

"M, what are you—??"

Mal took both of Evie's hands without a word, without an explanation, and pulled her to her feet. It was all the way to Evie's room that she guided her, all the way to Evie's closet, letting her go to throw the creaky doors wide.

"Okay, let's see..."

There hung all the things that Evie had grown too big to wear, dresses and tight skirts and fitted tees. Evie just watched in absolute confusion as Mal shuffled through all of them, seeming to settle on a dark navy evening gown Evie had long ago designed after a whimsical night of dreams filled with dancing in an Auradon ballroom, everyone's eyes on her.

"Here. You should wear this," Mal unhooked the hanger and freed the gown from the closet.

"What? What are you talking about??" Evie demanded, astonished. "Mal, no. Are you crazy? I'll look hideous in that. Maternity wear, it is  _not."_

"Just for today."

"Why? What kind of ridiculous scheme could you possibly have running through that head of yours?" Evie wasn't amused.

"The kind where you go back to dressing up and being Evie and feeling good about yourself."

Mal turned around and cast a bit of a forlorn look at the closet.

"Let's be real, Evie. You didn't put away some of these things because you  _couldn't_  wear them anymore. You put them away because you thought you  _shouldn't._  Because long before you were ever pregnant your mother made you think it would make you fat and ugly and unworthy of beautiful things...but you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, E. And when you forget that, I just want to help remind you."

"...Mal, I—"

"Will look as amazing in this as you did nine months ago," Mal stepped forward and held the gown out to Evie. "You used to make entire nights out of dressing up and dolling up without anyplace to go, just for the fun of it. You could use some fun."

The conflict tore the pretty planes of Evie's face.

"M, I promise you I'll look horrible," she sadly shook her head.

"And I promise you that you won't."

Evie wasn't planning to be convinced, not at all. But a promise from Mal was worth so much more now than it ever used to be.

So she relented, unaware what sense this made to Mal but changing nonetheless and shyly coming out of the bathroom when she was through. The dress certainly didn't fit her like a glove, but still it fit. The material stretched just so around her bump; like Evie said, never meant for maternity wear.

"Mal..."

"No," Mal held up a hand to stop Evie. "I don't want to hear a single negative thing out of your mouth."

Evie said one anyway.

"...I feel ridiculous," she hung her head, like she wanted to bolt back into the bathroom and lock the door behind her to hide forever.

As it were, she found herself inadvertently making a slow backwards shuffle through the doorway. Mal made a grab for her hand and tugged her close.

"What's strawberry going to say when she finds out you think you look ridiculous because of her?" Mal didn't purposely intend to guilt-trip, but hey, if it worked, then it worked.

"That's not..." Evie started to say in her own defense, before quickly realizing she really had no defense at all.

"Is that any way to talk about my niece? My nephew?"

"...No, it isn't."

Mal smirked with a successful guilt-trip fitted squarely under her belt.

"That's what I thought. So come on, time for hair and makeup," Mal twined her fingers with Evie's and led her back in the direction of the bedroom.

"Hair and makeup? What am I, a superstar celebrity?"

"Obviously."

Mal certainly knew her best friend, for armed with a vast array of brushes, and colors, and wands of a non-magic variety, Evie brought a big smile to her own face as she settled into her element and took her time doing her makeup, delicately perched at the edge of her bed.

"All dressed up with no place to go," she said giddily after a while, a mirror in one hand and a brush in the other. "M, you were right. I forgot that this could just be...fun."

Mal sat behind her, having preoccupied herself with brushing out Evie's hair the entire time.

"I have my moments of wisdom."

They set their respective brushes aside at the same time, both studying Evie in her mirror. Mal took careful note of the smile on her best friend's face, locking it away in her memory to have it there to pull out on a rainy day.

"There's my Evie," she said proudly.

"There she is," Evie giggled.

"You feel better?"

"I do, much better. Thank you, Mal. I almost wish it wasn't over."

Mal stood up from the bed, stretched out a little bit.

"Okay, then do me next," she offered. "Do my hair, my makeup, pick out a fancy outfit for me."

"...What??" Evie blurted, looking incredulously over her shoulder at Mal. "M, you  _hate_  that!"

"But you like it," Mal shrugged and spoke as if it were the simplest, most obvious answer in the world. "So come on, give me a patented Evie makeover."

Evie tried to read Mal's face for signs of a joke, a teasing smirk.

"You're serious," she realized.

"Yep."

"...Okay then. Your funeral."

So now it was Evie's turn to raid Mal's closet, rooting through the seas of purple and black to find something that could pass for fancy, elegant.

"You realize you don't actually own a dress, right?" Evie said.

"One of this life's small mercies."

In lieu of the fancy and elegant, Evie picked out one of Mal's nicer leather jackets and the only pair of pants she could find without holes in them.

"Here, change into this," Evie handed over her fashionista selections. "With the right accessories you'll look fabulous."

Fabulous was Evie's expertise, and Mal was in no way backing out of her offer to let Evie play dress-up. She didn't say a word of protest as Evie adorned her with earrings and blush and a nice dark shade of lipstick, even a fresh coat of paint to her nails. Not a single word. She just let Evie work her magic, perfectly content with the frilly turn the end of the afternoon had taken so long as it made her best friend happy and kept troubled thoughts at bay.

They stood at each other's side and looked into the cracked bathroom mirror after Evie finished curling Mal's hair, admiring the pretty pictures of their reflections.

"All done," Evie grinned.

Mal gave a playful shake of her head, watching her curls bounce.

"Now wasn't this a much better use of the afternoon than homework?" she asked Evie.

"Much, much better."

"Good. Then I guess we're ready."

Evie frowned, turning to eye Mal with a questioning, concerned glance.

"...M, ready for what?"

The honking of a horn down in the alley below interrupted the chance for an answer.

"Perfect timing," Mal said instead, her head tilting automatically in the direction of the sound.

"Perfect timing for what?? What are you up to?"

"What I'm always up to; a little mischief."

Hand in hand with Evie, Mal led her out of the bathroom and through the hideout, stopping to click off all the lights as they went, Evie's hint that they wouldn't be returning for a while.

"Mal, wait," Evie stopped and tugged her hand free at the door. "It was all dressed up with  _nowhere_  to go, remember? I'm not in the mood for going out anywhere."

Mal's smile was soft, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"...Trust me, E. You'll want to go just this once."

Evie was wary and reluctant but still somehow without much protest as she followed Mal outside, down the fire escape and down to the alley—where Cruella De Vil's car sat shining amidst the grime with Carlos parked behind the wheel.

Evie had never  _seen_  the roadster so clean before, scrubbed and scoured so that it positively glittered as Carlos idly lingered with the top down. And it was laced with blue and gold banners, obviously tossed out after some lavish party back on the mainland and found with barely any wear or tear on the Auradon barge.

"...Mal," Evie turned to her, incredulous and so very confused. "What is this?"

"Our ride, duh."

Evie saw Carlos all dressed up too in a suit of black and white, a red tie strewn around his collar.

"Hop in," he grinned.

Mal opened the door for Evie and helped her inside before taking a seat next to her.

"Mal, tell me what's going on," Evie said as they started off down the street.

Mal wouldn't say a word. Her lips were sealed.

"Carlos?" Evie prodded, needing an answer.

Carlos could only chuckle and smile.

"I'm just driving the car."

* * *

 

Evie heard the music from a distance, crackly and staticky and a bit distorted, but never would she have guessed that it came from where it did.

Uma's ship.

Decked out in lights strung from its masts and woven through its railings, serving it well against a sky that darkened as afternoon finally started its fade into evening with a sunset hidden behind The Isle's thick clouds. Carlos rolled the car to a stop at the docks and cut the engine, getting out first to be the one to open the back door for the girls.

"Thanks, Carlos," Mal said, climbing out and turning around to take Evie's hand and help her out of the car the same way she'd helped her in.

Evie saw more of the blue and gold banners wound around the posts of the docks, leading the way to Uma's ship in a line of color against the gritty and grainy wood. She guessed that the music was coming from some old and decrepit speaker that Carlos was probably credited with fixing up, Carlos who followed close behind them as Mal looped her arm through Evie's and led her along.

Everyone was there, Evie could see it as they approached the gangplank. Uma, her pirates, Gil, Harry Hook, Jay...Dizzy, her dress splattered with paint, waving so excitedly her hand was only a blur. Evie waved back the second she caught sight of her, and with Mal and Carlos, she trekked up the gangplank and set foot on deck.

"Welcome aboard," Uma said.

She took off her captain's hat and bowed her head, elbowing Harry to do the same.

Jay came forward, his long hair pulled back and his muscle shirt traded in for a crisp long-sleeved button up.

"Glad you could make it," he smiled at Evie.

"...Mal," Evie warily stepped away from her, fully aware of everyone's eyes watching. "Enough with the games, okay? ...What  _is_  all of this?"

The ship, the music, the decorations, the chauffeured car ride. Evie wanted an answer, and she wanted one now.

Mal was all too happy to oblige.

"...Your coronation."

Two words. That was all it took to bring the tears to Evie's eyes.

"My...w-what?"

It was a redundant statement made in shock, through trembling lips. Evie knew exactly what, she was a smart girl. She believed it, she just didn't  _believe_  it.

"It's a party, princess," Uma explained for her.

"And you're the guest of honor!" Dizzy cheered.

Mal held Evie's hands tightly in her own, looking deep into her teary eyes.

"...E, a princess is crowned queen when her time to rule has come, when she's proven that she can face the challenges ahead and do what's best for her people. After nine months, you've definitely proven that," Mal softly said.

"You're tougher than any pirate on this ship," Uma grudgingly admitted.

"Yet still kind and caring," Carlos said with a smile.

"The smartest," Jay added.

"The most talented!" Dizzy added too.

"The greatest mother the Isle of the Lost has ever known," Mal finished. "One who could've easily given up and decided it wasn't worth it but stuck it out instead because her enormous heart wasn't about to let another child of The Isle suffer. And so, for that..."

"You just had to be extra, didn't you? You couldn't just throw a regular old baby shower?" Uma comically interrupted.

_"Uma,"_ Mal hissed, shooting the girl a scowl that perfectly encapsulated a demand to shut up and play along.

So Uma rolled her eyes and gave a simple snap of her fingers, her captain's command.

The heads of two of her pirates bobbed up from below deck, coming through the hatch at Uma's summons. Scrawny and lanky, it took the both of them to lift it—a secondhand armchair painted gold, with some of Dizzy's costume gems and glittering trinkets stuck to it like an arts and crafts project gone entirely off the rails.

"Your throne, my lady," Carlos came around and bowed to Evie, offering his hand to lead her over when the pirates set the chair down with exhausted huffs and puffs.

Evie laughed happily around her tears, taking Carlos' hand.

"Don't worry, we made this weeks ago. Paint's dry," Carlos chuckled.

Weeks ago. Evie was suddenly beginning to understand all of Mal's mysterious after-school disappearances.

So she sat on her improvised throne, settling in as Jay approached and knelt down before her with a cordial bow of his head.

"Your crown, my lady."

In true pickpocket fashion he procured a diamond tiara from what seemed like thin air, presenting it to Evie with the utmost propriety.

"...Jay!!" Evie gasped. "Is that—??"

"Real? Yeah," Jay grinned. "Amazing what the Auradon crowd will throw out with the trash."

"Those snooty little brats probably have a tiara in the closet for every day of the week," Uma bitterly said.

Jay stood up and placed the tiara atop Evie's head, careful not to disturb a single blue hair. Evie had to tell herself to hold it together as she balled up a fist and wiped at her eyes—it wasn't proper for royalty to bawl uncontrollably.

"Uma, if I may," Mal reached out, and Uma handed over her sword.

Evie held her head up proudly and blinked back another flood of tears as Mal drew close, unsheathing the sword.

"Princess Evie of The Isle, do you promise to protect and defend, cherish and adore, lead and guide your little strawberry in ways that no Isle mom has ever had the heart to do before?" Mal asked, purposely putting on a bit of a show.

"I promise," Evie answered with a nod and a laugh.

"Good. Now rise."

"...You'll have to help me with that."

"Oh. Right."

Mal got Evie to her feet with a little tug of the hand.

"Then, Princess Evie," Mal kept an entirely straight face as she tapped Uma's sword to Evie's shoulders. "...I hereby crown you Queen."

Evie was quite certain she had the most incredible friends and family in the whole wide world.

"All hail Queen Evie!!" Jay cheered with a booming yell, throwing his fist into the air.

Everyone chorused the cheer right after him, even Uma, snatching her sword back from Mal. There were claps, rounds of applause, whistles, a few patented squeals from Dizzy, and all of them for Evie. Evie who nine months ago was just a very terrified girl trembling on a bathroom floor with her entire future clouded in darkness.

Evie who nine months later had a smile on her face so dazzlingly bright that the Isle of the Lost didn't need to see the sun.

"All hail Queen Evie," Mal said on her own when the hurrahs died down, a wry smirk teasing at her lips. "And Prince or Princess Strawberry."

Evie bit her lip in a beautifully shy way that was almost second nature to her, her cheeks blushing pink in just seconds with the sort of smile reserved for a secret finally being let loose.

"...Prince Tristan," she quietly said around her smile. "...Or Princess Cassandra."

Mal wondered if this was what it felt like to have her heart stop.

"...You have your names?" she whispered in awe, now imagining that  _she_  was the one about to cry a river of tears.

Evie fervently nodded, proud to finally admit it.

"I was waiting for the perfect time to tell you, M. And, well...this seems as perfect a time as any." 

And Mal did a striking impression of Dizzy just then, knowing she shouldn't have thrown herself at Evie in a giant hug but doing so anyway, just very very carefully. Oh, something about the moment made her never want to let Evie go, burying her face in the crook of her best friend's neck and squeezing her eyes tight to fight off the tears that threatened to sully her good villain name. Carlos, with a grin, gave Jay an elbowing nudge.

"Didn't I say they'd be fancy?" he chuckled.

"Y'all better hope it's not Tristan  _and_ Cassandra," Uma wickedly teased, Harry cackling at her side and Gil's expression clearly saying he was trying to figure out the joke.

Mal dutifully ignored her, concerned only with Evie in her arms.

"M..." Evie was reluctant to pull away, but she had to look Mal in the eyes. "...One of these days you have to tell me how I'm ever going to thank you for everything that you've done for me."

"...Let me stay with you," Mal said. "Let me stay and watch little Tristan or little Cassandra learn and live and grow up into the amazing kid I know they're going to be because  _you_  helped them become it. Your little strawberry is going to do and be so much, E...I just want to be there to see it."

Evie nodded, her breaths shaky with so much emotion.

"...Deal."

"I made crab cakes!" Gil eagerly announced, remembering that coronation rhymed with celebration and a celebration just wasn't one without food.

Dizzy and the VKs turned questioning eyes on Uma, concerned that Gil might have fished—so to speak—his ingredients from Uma's less-than-sanitary restaurant.

"I don't run no soup kitchen," she denied, reading their stares.

So food it was. And celebration, too.

"Are they any good?" Evie nervously asked Mal when Gil disappeared below deck to fetch the party food.

"Crab cakes? In theory.  _Gil's_  crab cakes? Well..."

Somehow, everything on board the ship was so much better than any Auradon affair Evie ever could've dreamed of. The strings of lights spiderwebbing along the masts took the place of the moon and stars, the music was distorted but still carried its beat, and for the first time in months, as the festivities wore on, Evie didn't have a single care in the world.

She was free. Standing with Mal at the port side railing later on in the evening and gazing out across the ocean, Evie was free.

"...Hey, princess."

Uma very much resembled a petulant child whose mother had just made her march herself over to deliver a begrudged apology.

"Hi Uma," Evie turned and smiled at her.

Mal turned too at the sound of her voice, but just leaned back against the railing to evilly delight in Uma's grouchy expression. The pirate had both her hands behind her back, obviously hiding something. Neither girl worried over what it might be, it simply wasn't that kind of night.

"It's queen now, remember?" Mal reminded her with a devilish smile.

She could almost see the string of sharp words brewing to life in a cloud above Uma's head.

"Here," Uma brusquely handed the hidden surprise over to Evie.

A small mobile, hanging from a string looped around Uma's finger like it would one day hang from a ceiling. Adorned with starfish, pearls, seashells of all shapes and colors, it twirled slowly of its own accord and captured Evie's wide-eyed gaze.

_"Uma,"_  she breathed in astonishment. "You didn't...you didn't  _make_  this, did you??"

"So what if I did?!" Uma snapped.

Evie took the mobile by the string and held it gingerly; admiring, cherishing.

"Uma, thank you... _so_  much. I'll hang it front and center in the nursery. Jay, Carlos, and Mal helped me put it together, Dizzy gave up some of her old baby things for me, and now with this gift from you...the baby's room has a little piece of all my friends."

Captain, pirate, witch, Shrimpy; Uma had been called many things in her life. But never before had she been called a friend.

"Yeah, whatever," she turned and sauntered away without a look back, going to join Harry Hook on the other end of the ship.

"Thanks, Uma," Mal called after her, only in a partly-mocking fashion. "...Wow, people surprise you sometimes, E."

"And speaking of surprises," Evie spun the mobile around with her hand. "Am I right to assume that this whole evening was your idea?"

"The boys helped," Mal shrugged.

"But it was  _you_  who came up with it in the first place? Sneaking off after school, spending hours and hours away? Getting a ship decorated and a car washed and wondering how in the world you were ever going to get me to dress up?"

Mal was obviously guilty, it was painted right on her face.

"Mal, I may be a queen of The Isle now, but you?"

"Don't say it," Mal groaned, seeing it coming a mile away.

"You're the queen of my heart."

"You said it," Mal sighed, hanging her head with a laugh. "Unbelievable."

One hand held the seashell mobile, while the other hand reached over to hold Mal's, their fingers lacing tight as they went back to watching the waves.

"Unbelievable," Evie repeated, her heart beating a calm and relaxed lull in her chest.

Unbelievable. Truly the magical word of the night.

* * *

 

Later in the evening as the hours passed and from the opposite end of the deck they heard the sounds of Uma's ranting and raving, demanding to know who was in charge of music, because as bubbly party tunes faded into sappy slow songs the pirate was vehemently reminded of her distaste for sappy slow songs.

"...Pretty soon it's going to be you, me, and a baby," Mal began, gazing out across the deck and watching her friends enjoying the party. "And I won't regret a single minute of it, but like I've said before, I'll miss it being just us."

Evie listened intently to the music, its soft chords and lulling melody.

"...Then we should probably make one of our last moments together count," she suggested.

She pulled Mal as close as she could, their arms reflexively moving to hold one another tight, Evie's hand slipping easily inside Mal's. They swayed each other back and forth to the rhythm of the gentle song, neither of them questioning how naturally and simply they'd fallen into a slow dance. 

"...Evie, was tonight everything you ever hoped it could be?" Mal wondered, her head coming to rest on Evie's shoulder.

Peace. Mal and Evie were becoming strikingly well-acquainted with the feeling of peace.

"...No, Mal. It was so much more."


	8. Chapter 8

Evie never awoke with sudden starts. Nightmares, restless sleeps, even errant thunderstorms never seemed to jar her. She always softly stirred, finding her way awake slowly and steadily.

But not tonight.

With eyes shooting open and what felt like a gasp squeezing her lungs, sleep was rudely ripped out from under her. Nightmare? Her heart wasn't racing. Restless sleep? Remarkably, no. Errant thunderstorm? Evie listened, but didn't hear. It was strange, it was startling, but apparently, it was nothing. So Evie nestled her head deeper into her pillow and closed her eyes once more. It wasn't at all easy to get comfortable, but comfort was a luxury Evie just had to live without nowadays.

The closest she could get to it was "bearable", and bearable was what the tired aching in every molecule passed for as she found herself hovering again at the edge of sleep. Right at the edge, invisible forces in the dark pulling her down and down as the real world around her began to fade. Falling asleep, even after fleeting moments of wakefulness in the middle of the night, was such a chore. Evie rather jealously cursed how effortlessly Mal would drift off beside her, stilling and quieting in just minutes to sleep easily through the night. Evie sorely missed easy sleep, but the chore of getting it might've been a far less taxing one if it weren't for the terrible throb in her back like a knife twisting in her spine.

Again her eyes shot open at the sharp ache, something her expertly designed pillow fort was supposed to ease. This time her vision had a chance to adjust to the dark, and sure enough, there was Mal, flat on her back and passed out without a care in the world. Ridiculously unfair. If Evie were a more spiteful person she would've "accidentally" kicked her awake just to have someone to share in her misery. The misery of her backaches springing to life once more, something she'd recently been granted a reprieve from but now was stuck enduring with a vengeance. How was anyone supposed to sleep when someone was taking a blunt hammer to the base of their spine?

After a little while and a couple more failed attempts at reclaiming her shut-eye, Evie forced herself upright, thinking a little stretch might help.

But what would really help was Mal, Mal and her magic touch. Evie liked to believe she wasn't selfish enough to wake her best friend from a sound sleep just to ask for a little massage, but darned if the idea didn't sound just the tiniest bit appealing to the exhausted girl.

Any day now. It was a wonder she could sleep at all with "any day now" constantly looming over her head. Soon there would be a baby. Nestled in her arms, wriggling in a crib, laughing at Mal because big bad Mal would most certainly do anything to claim the honor of baby's first laugh. Everything would change. Everything would be worlds different. Evie knew she couldn't think too hard about it, otherwise she'd never get any rest. So with a sigh, she settled back onto her side, and waited for the exhaustion to simply take over and shut everything down.

She found herself very aware of the minutes now, she could feel them dragging along like tar; ten into fifteen, fifteen into twenty, and through it all were the terrible waves of soreness.

Practically waves of pain.

"...Mal," Evie whispered just then as her heartbeat kicked into a gallop, her voice managing not to tremble on just the one syllable.

Out cold, Mal didn't respond, and Evie was forced to shake her awake.

"Mal!!" she said more urgently.

Now Mal was up, bleary eyes open.

"What??" she questioned, bolting upright and blinking crazily to see.

Evie made the effort to sit up again too, suddenly realizing that what she was feeling might not be run-of-the-mill aches at all.

"M-Mal...I think..."

She didn't even need to finish. And she didn't even need the lights turned on to see Mal's eyes widen in the dark.

"...You think?" Mal repeated anxiously. She leaned over to quickly turn on a lamp, the light stabbing her eyes. "How do you feel??"

"Exactly how you said I'd feel," Evie told her just as anxiously. "Weird and uncomfortable, with this strange ache in my back that...that kind of hurts a little, M."

It was hard to tell at first, after going without them for nine months, but with nearly an hour of them passed, it made for plenty of time for Evie to become reacquainted with the feeling of cramps. Cramps meant contractions. And Evie knew what  _those_  meant.

"Mal..." she whimpered, not exactly sure what she wanted to say but just needing to hear her best friend's name out loud.

"Hey," Mal cupped a hand to her cheek. "Don't freak out on me. You see me right here next to you? That's where I'm going to stay, E. I've got you. It's only the beginning, we still have a long way to go."

Mal forced herself not to tremble, refused to let Evie feel it.

"Will you tell me when it's time to panic?" Evie managed a very weak joke, that heartbeat of hers not calming any.

"I won't let you panic," Mal promised.

Panicking herself, well, that was an entirely different story. She moved in close and put her hands on Evie's tummy, rubbing her soft and gentle circles.

"...Hey princess," she crooned. "What's going on in there? Are you ready? Or do you just like to make your mom nervous?"

Another dull bolt of pain spiderwebbed its way through Evie's back.

"No, Mal," Evie shook her head. "...I think she's really ready."

That made one of them.

"Okay, well, then this is just the first step, we've got hours before we even need to officially start worrying," Mal said for both their sakes.

"Too late," Evie quickly retorted. "M, if it's really happening?? We just can't do this by ourselves!"

_We're trapped on an island of heartless villains, who's going to come to our rescue now when they wouldn't come to our rescue before??_ Mal wanted to shout helplessly.

But no. She couldn't be helpless now, not the very minute Evie needed her the most. For nine months Mal stood strong for her, even in those fleeting times when she wanted nothing more than to crumble and break under the strain. In this fearful moment, with her best friend waking up to labor pains underneath a gloomy Isle night, she was Evie's everything. She wouldn't crumble. Didn't dare break.

"...I'll go to Hell Hall. I won't bother trying to wake up Carlos, I'll just take Cruella's car myself," she said, throwing the covers off and rolling out of bed.

"Take Cruella's car and what??" Evie fretfully questioned.

"Drive around and look for help," Mal balanced on one foot at a time as she yanked on a pair of socks. "I'll knock on doors, I'll threaten if I have to, but I'll find someone who knows what to do."

"Take me with you," Evie insisted.

Mal frowned, like the statement was utter gibberish she simply couldn't comprehend.

"Evie, no. It's one in the morning, you need to rest, you need to  _sleep_ , while you still can," Mal insisted right back.

"By myself, knowing that I might be in labor? There's no way that's happening!"

Mal was climbing back onto the bed then, resting on her knees in front of her best friend. There was so,  _so_  much reflected in Evie's eyes just then, Mal couldn't read it all at once.

"...I can't promise you that having your baby will be easy," she quietly said. "Maybe it will be, maybe it won't. I just don't know. But what I do know is that you, Evie, are a force of nature. You always have been. So no matter how tough, how hard, you're going to make it through this."

"Maybe," Evie shakily agreed, another dull ache jarring her. "...But right now I just want to be with you."

"...Alright," Mal conceded without very much of an argument. Truth be told, she wasn't too keen on Evie being separated from her either. "Then let's get you into something warm if we're going to be running around in the middle of the night."

Mal wanted her comfortable, so Evie stayed in her pajamas, throwing one of Mal's long-sleeved hand-me-down shirts from Jay over her tank top and a jacket on over the shirt. Mal cared nothing for herself, just grabbing the first things she saw out of her closet in what she was sure Evie would regard as a fashion crime.

"You should still be good to walk," Mal said, crouched down to tie Evie's shoes. "But tell me if you need to stop. We'll be at Carlos' place before you know it."

For now, it was bearable, but Evie fearfully knew that eventually it wouldn't be. By the end of the morning she wouldn't be able to walk, might not even be able to talk with the discomfort of contractions slowly turning into excruciating pain. Mal, personally, would just be glad when they had the car and Evie was off her feet.

The very early morning wasn't as cold as Mal had been expecting, but was still plenty cool, and she kept worriedly asking if Evie really was warm enough. And if she needed to stop walking. And if she had changed her mind and wanted to rest up at the hideout while Mal went on ahead. She always imagined she'd be her usual in-charge self when Evie went into labor. Maybe she was doing a very good impression of it, but on the inside, she certainly didn't feel like it.

The silence they walked in bore a striking resemblance to the silence they succumbed to so long ago when the thought that Evie might be pregnant first hung heavily in the air. In fact, the whole affair was playing very much like that first frightful night. A desperate Evie wondering what in the world she was to do, Mal insisting that sleep and taking her mind off of it was the answer—if memory weakly served, it was even around the very same early morning hour that she wandered out of her room and found Evie with her head stuck in the toilet for an incriminating second time.

Mal was quiet, and perhaps even a little sneaky as she took deep breaths to steady herself, making sure Evie didn't see how far from collected she was.

The silence suffocated Evie and the shuffle of her footsteps down the street drove her crazy. She couldn't shake the strange feeling of tension in the air, something bitter and driven by animosity.

The nagging and familiar feeling that she had somehow done something wrong.

Slept around, gotten pregnant, let her best friend get dragged into the crazy whirlwind instead of taking responsibility for her own mistakes. In another time, another place, Mal should've been fast asleep on a very early Thursday morning without a care in the world. Instead she was out wandering the Isle's cold and dirty streets, about to go from door to door only to get those doors harshly slammed in her face.

"...I'm sorry," Evie said, failing to stifle a sniff. "Mal, I'm so sorry for all of this."

Mal frowned, her steps coming to a stop.

"...Sorry for what?" she questioned, turning to Evie. "Evie, how is any of this something to apologize for?"

"Because you shouldn't have had to go through any of this," Evie sadly said. Leave it to the very last minute for her to feel the weight of the burden she realized she must have been on Mal. "My mother told me to do whatever it takes to win over those boys, and I went and...I wasn't thinking, Mal. I was stupid, and careless, and so selfish making your life revolve around me—"

"Do you have any idea where I'd be right now if my life didn't revolve around you?  _Who_  I'd be? ...E, all this time you've been thanking me for staying by your side, but really, I should be the one thanking you. My mom had this terrible life of evil all picked out for me, and you? You're the one who kept me from it. You gave me the strength to choose my own life, one that I actually wanted. If it weren't for you the only thing I'd be today is a shadow of my mother...you're the one who helped bring me into the light."

"...Surely there had to have been a better way to do that," Evie hung her head.

"Why are you suddenly under the impression that you're not the best thing that's ever happened to me? Because I gotta say, that's pretty annoying."

That made Evie laugh. A slow laugh against a tense and anxious morning was a relief to hear, even if only briefly. It was her own cue to change the subject, to follow Mal's example and attempt a lighter mood for the sake of both of their nerves.

"...So, aren't you at all concerned with what's going to happen when Cruella wakes up and finds out you've made off with her car?" she asked.

"Not in the slightest, no."

After all, it was right there for the taking, keys and everything, when they reached the looming presence of Hell Hall. Any sane denizen of The Isle was much more careful with their valuables, but then again, Cruella De Vil was a far cry from sane. Her usual manic racing behind the wheel of her car made quite the amusing contrast to Mal's white-knuckle driving when she finally had Evie in the passenger seat.

"How are you doing?" Mal asked as the De Vil manor was fading away into the distance. "Still hurting?"

"...Yes. Just a little," Evie admitted. She was clutching tightly at the strap of her seatbelt, just needing something to do to occupy her hands. "Like when cramps are just beginning to start. And just like cramps, I know it's only going to get worse."

"But you realize that when it's over your baby will be here? Here for you to finally put into that crib of hers? You said once that you were excited to meet her, remember?"

Evie didn't respond right away. With the hood of the convertible up against the night, she just gazed miserably out the windows at The Isle, illuminated by dull and flickering streetlight.

"...I mean, yes, I guess I've been waiting to see the face on the other end of all those kicks, but knowing he or she will be yet another Isle kid...I just  _so_  wish I had a different world to offer them, Mal. Every time I look at them I'm going to think of how they were born a prisoner of The Isle, and how I'll be the one to blame."

"I don't think that's true. Pretty sure you're going to think 'look at that tiny nose' or 'look at those fat little cheeks'."

Mal could sense Evie's eyes widening incredulously.

"Fat is good when it comes to babies," she explained. "E, don't think about what they won't have. Think about what they  _will_  have—you for a mother. You who from the very beginning have worried about their happiness and well-being and done everything you could to make sure they'd be cared for. The first mom of her kind here."

"I should probably  _have_  the baby before you start campaigning me for mom of the year, don't you think?" Evie teased.

"Having the baby. Right. We're working on it."

Mal had no idea who to turn to. Preferably someone who had been there, done that, but as expected and proven, the mothers of The Isle were far from sympathetic.

Lady Tremaine's salon, infamously closed until midnight, was in full swing by the time Mal and Evie pulled up. Seemed that between teaching by day and hairdressing at night, the evil stepmother had all but given up on the idea of beauty sleep. Mal had Evie wait in the car while she hurried inside, seeing several heads stuck under dryers with faces so sneered and twisted that no hairstyle in the kingdom would do them any good. Here was the one and only good thing about everyone on the Isle of the Lost knowing Evie was pregnant; Mal had very little talking to do. Which worked out perfectly, in a way. Lady Tremaine had very little listening to do.

It was chore enough just trying to tear her away from her work so Mal could drop the bomb in a secluded corner of the salon, but when she quickly explained that Evie was in labor and neither of them knew what to do, oh, how her ladyship could not care less. She shooed Mal away with a wave of the hand, even managed to work in a mocking cackle as she did so. Mal knew how to pick her fights, knew that dangling Lady Tremaine out her second story window would not bode well with a store full of villainous paying customers outnumbering her. Evie watched her best friend storm out of the salon with her hands curling into fists, already knowing she'd be spying this exact sight.

"I take it everything went well?" she sighed through the open window.

Mal stood at the passenger side door, shooting the salon behind her the evil eye.

"I can climb to the second floor and look for Drizella," she urgently said.

"Oh yeah? And what am I supposed to do when you fall and break your neck?"

"What, you think I've never scaled a building before?" Mal scowled. "I'm not going to fall and break my neck."

"If there was ever a day for you to fall and break your neck, it'd be today."

"...Fine," Mal grumbled. "Moving on."

It had to be sometime past two in the morning when Mal started the car up again, but she was grateful to not know for sure; the last thing she needed was to have a clock around to obsessively watch.

All she did was drive.

Ringing Yzma's doorbell was the most horrifying thing she'd ever done in her entire life, seeing the living skeleton come to the door with Hades-knows-what plastered all over her face in a green slime while one browning cucumber slid down her cheek. Mother Gothel didn't even bother coming to the door, choosing instead to scream and rant and threaten to fail Mal in a class she didn't even take from the balcony before even hearing her plea. Every time Mal left the car, Evie braced herself to watch her trudge or stomp back to it. Not a single soul could be bothered. Not a single soul cared.

By the end of their island excursion there was again another miserable silence clouding the air, the small space inside Cruella's roadster after Mal climbed behind the wheel and slammed the door shut for the last time. All they really needed now was a thunderstorm to burst to life above them, raining them out and putting the cherry on top of a horrible night.

"...I guess we're on our own," Mal said quietly, her gaze practically burning a hole in the steering wheel.

Evie had never seen Mal look broken, hopelessly defeated. It churned to life a pain in her heart that seemed to ache more than any contraction ever could.

"...You tried, Mal. That's all I'll ever ask of you," she said soothingly.

"...One last try," Mal's spirits seemed to grimly and reluctantly lift as she brought the car to a shaky start with the turn of the key.

Evie didn't know where they were going now, she just sat back quietly and again watched The Isle go by, watched what appeared to be the faint glow of the moon behind a sheet of clouds slowly traversing the sky as the morning went on. On this one final try, Mal didn't have Evie stay behind. When the car ground to a stop and the engine cut, Mal was opening the door for Evie, taking her hands and helping her out.

It felt strange for Mal to knock, but knock she did, her heart pounding painfully in her chest. She waited. Evie waited. Mal wondered if she dared to have the courage to knock again, but the slow creak of the double doors ghosting open spared her from having to make that agonizing choice.

"...Oh look, it's every parent's worst nightmare. Their child on the front doorstep with a pregnant girl glued to their side," Maleficent rolled her eyes.

"I'm just the aunt," Mal dryly said.

The first words she'd said to her mother in over a year.

"Well if  _that_  isn't the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

"Mom, Evie's having her baby."

"Ugh," Maleficent's lip curled.

"...What do we do?" Mal asked, not so much herself as she was a scared child wishing her mother could be counted on in times of need.

"You're about nine months too late to be thinking about that one, pumpkin," Maleficent mocked with a laugh.

Mal bristled angrily. Maleficent only seemed to get an amused kick out of it.

"It's not rocket science, Mal," she scoffed. "It's not even multiple choice. The princess sits her little butt down and has a baby, the end."

Maleficent spun with a swish of her evening robes, turning her back on the girls and toddling off inside her castle. Evie was almost afraid to set foot within it, but Mal led her along by the hand, trailing after her mother and back into her old home.

"Mom, please," Mal urged. "I'm just trying to make sure that Evie will be okay."

"Oh, no chance of that. It ain't a picnic, kiddo."

"What if something goes wrong??"

"Distinct possibility."

Evie found that far from reassuring. Found the whole conversation far from reassuring, in point of fact. If she was very honest, she would've preferred Maleficent to slam the door in their faces like the rest of the villains.

"...M, forget it. Let's just go," she tensely whispered.

"Wait, E..."

Maleficent made for the staircase that led from her shop on the ground floor up to the rest of the castle where she lived. The girls followed after her.

Evie had never been to Mal's place before, and couldn't help but afford herself curious looks around. The paint peeling away from the walls in places, the mismatched chairs at the dining table; funny, she never imagined Maleficent as having brightly colored fridge magnets.

"What, are you two just going to hang around here all night?" Maleficent snapped over her shoulder, realizing she was being followed. "You'll make me miss my evil sleep."

Mal sat Evie down in the cushiest of the mismatched chairs, standing over her and massaging her shoulders.

"My best friend is having a baby. You can't say something even remotely encouraging to us?" Mal demanded, eyes narrowing.

"It wouldn't be very villainous of me, would it?"

Evie took a deep breath, partly to get herself through another wave of discomfort, partly to find the courage to speak to the most feared villain in all the lands, the villain responsible for banishing her for ten long years.

"...Maleficent, you have to know what we're going through. Weren't you scared when you had Mal?" she softly asked.

"Ha!" Maleficent snorted, settling into the chair at the opposite end of the table. "Scared? I was annoyed. I had better things to do than skulk around the castle waiting for Miss Priss to show up. Look, you're bothering me for advice? There is none. Having a brat is like falling off a log, it just happens. Like breathing, it's an instinct. All you can do is park yourself somewhere, get comfortable, and learn your lesson so you don't let it happen again. The last thing we need is more urchins on this island taking up space."

Maleficent saw her daughter hovering protectively behind Evie, hands and touch far too gentle.

"...Look at you, watching over this girl. You're an utter disappointment, Mal," she scowled.

Evie could feel her best friend stiffen, just the slightest.

"Not to her," Mal said, her face expressionless as she held Evie tighter.

"Not to me," Evie agreed in firm solidarity.

Maleficent and Uma must have gone to the same school of disgusted sneering.

"I have half a mind to disown you right here and now. You're weak, and ridiculous. Nothing but a disgrace to the name of evil. I'm going back to bed. Now get out of here, and take the blue bobblehead with you before she makes a mess on the floor."

Maleficent rose from her seat and left them behind, slinking to her room and slamming the heavy doors behind her before sealing herself in with a click of the lock.

"...Next thing you know  _I'll_ be the one banished for ten years," Mal grimly muttered.

"...How frightening is it that her words were the most helpful ones I've heard all night?" Evie dejectedly murmured.

"I haven't been helpful?"

"I meant besides your words," Evie laughed a little, leaning her head back to smile up at Mal. Mal's automatic reaction was to comb her fingers through Evie's hair. "But what she said about it just happening, just being instinct...I really needed to hear that. Not that it's going to be easy, but..."

"Well...it looks like we're waiting, then," Mal sighed.

"Agonizing," Evie glumly said.

That was the word for it.

"Will you try getting some rest now?" Mal softly questioned. "We've been running all over the place, and you really need to be taking it easy. You can lay down in my old room for a little bit, and then we'll head back to the hideout."

"...I  _am_  tired."

Mal smiled encouragingly.

"Come on."

Mal's room turned out to be quintessential Mal, the gothic decor shrouded in shades of black and purple, dusty drapes pulled tight over the window, and tattered art books fallen over on the bookshelf where Mal didn't seem to value them enough to move them to the hideout. She had a canopy bed, which Evie never would've expected, a looming thing with curtains and pillows of very dark purple that Mal hurried over to arrange for her best friend.

"I love your room, Mal," Evie said, looking around and studying every nook and cranny.

"Yeah?" Mal seemed rather disinterested in it herself, focused only on fluffing her pillows and propping them up to vaguely resemble Evie's fort at the hideout.

"Yeah. It feels like you."

"That's hardly a plus."

It was strange, how Evie had never been in this bed of Mal's yet somehow it felt exactly like her bed back home, the one that the two of them now willingly shared. Mal tucked the covers around her and adjusted the pillows even more, like she'd fluff them into eternity if she could.

"So how are they?" Mal tried not to sound fretful. "Are they getting worse, closer together?"

"I haven't been keeping track of when they've been coming," Evie shyly said.

"That's okay."

"But it's not bad yet," she added. "Not too bad, at least. Mainly just uncomfortable. But I'd still rather be here than on my feet."

She patted the covers to mean the bed. Mal climbed up, sitting in front of Evie and drawing her knees to her chest.

"I'd rather you be here too. With me," Mal said, careful with her movements as she tried not to jostle Evie.

"Anywhere I'm with you is the best place for me, honestly," Evie grinned.

She closed her eyes, letting her head fall back lazily against Mal's headboard and trying very hard to focus on taking deep, steady breaths so reality wouldn't hit all at once and send her into a bonafide panic. Mal got caught up in staring, watching Evie breathe in and out, even noting the occasional twinges that crossed her features with each silent contraction.

"...You're beautiful, you know that?" Mal murmured.

Evie opened a single sleepy eye.

"I do. Thanks to a certain someone who tells me that all the time," she smiled.

"I tell you it all the time because it's true. And you're going to do amazingly. I already know it."

"...Why have you always been so confident in me?" Evie wondered. "If there was ever an occasion to be doubtful, it would definitely be getting pregnant at sixteen."

"Because you're Evie of The Isle. Unstoppable. You turned a villain into a hero. You even turned a pirate into a...well, I don't know  _what_  to call her, but she's something," Mal teased. "The way you made me care about you, the way you made me care about that little strawberry of yours...that's magic, E, plain and simple. And if you're the only one under this miserable barrier with magic, then you're very unstoppable indeed."

Evie shut both of her eyes again, feeling the onset of something that felt suspiciously like sleep.

"...Go ahead, E," Mal whispered. "There's plenty of time for you to rest. You need it."

"Just let me know when our girl is here," Evie yawned.

Mal's heart skipped several beats.

_"Our_  girl, huh?" she repeated quietly.

Evie's eyes opened once more, a curious shine in them.

"Don't you want her to be yours too?"

Another several beats that Mal's heart dangerously passed over.

"...I do."

"Then she's ours," Evie said with finality. "She'll have her mom and her Aunt Mal. Lucky girl."

Mal didn't say or do anything but smile, because sitting there on her bed and being given the chance to watch over her best friend, given the chance to be her strength and her spirit and everything that she needed, she knew a girl even luckier. A once-lost girl with a dragon for a mother and a beautiful warmth rooted right within her formerly frozen heart.

* * *

 

Evie slept. Mal kept a careful guard, letting nothing disturb her rest. And when Evie opened her eyes again, Mal was right there, still parked on the bed with a tattered book in hand that she tossed aside and disregarded entirely when she saw Evie awaken.

"How was your nap?" she asked.

Evie stretched a little.

"...The best one I've had in a while, believe it or not."

They left Maleficent's castle and returned to their hideout before they overstayed their unwelcome, the dark of the night covering their tracks as Cruella's car puttered on back to the hideout.

"You're doing good," Mal said, holding Evie's hand as they climbed the stairs in the alleyway together.

"It's only been four hours, Mal."

"Look, I've spent nine months learning how to be encouraging. I think I know what I'm talking about."

In their shared room, Evie sat at the edge of the bed and had her shoes tugged off by Mal, Mal who looked just as exhausted as Evie felt.

"...M, I need you to rest too, you know," Evie shrugged out of her jacket and Mal's shirt, back in her soft tank top once more.

"Don't worry about me, I'm alright," Mal shook her head.

"I'm worrying about you. If you're going to be right there with me then you need to get some sleep at some point too. It's going to be a long day," Evie sighed.

"The longest of our lives. I might head for the Slop Shop and see if five gallons of black coffee is a possibility. Looks like strawberry is just going to have to be born here, E."

Evie looked around at Mal's room; her paint on the walls, the clothes lazily flung over the furniture, a pile of sketchbooks stacked unevenly in a corner.

"I guess I always figured she would. I mean, where else could possibly be safer and more comfortable? If my baby has to be born on the Isle of the Lost, then I'm glad it's at least here at the hideout. At home."

Mal followed Evie's eyes, she too taking in all the quirks and little touches of her bedroom and the hideout beyond.

"You know, when I found this place and made it my own, it was just supposed to be an escape. A place to hide," she said. "I never imagined it would wind up being a home. A home for me and my family, no less..."

"You never even imagined you'd have a family in the first place," Evie said knowingly.

"How could I?" Mal chuckled. "Daughter of Maleficent, next in line to rule The Isle and destroy the kingdom? How could I have possibly known that you'd come crashing into my life?"

"And bringing along company."

Mal took a seat next to Evie on the bed, running a curious hand all along her stomach.

"...Hard to believe the day is really here, E. I'm gonna miss rubbing your tummy."

_"You're_  going to miss it?" Evie giggled. "Mal, I...I keep saying thank you, but it's nowhere near enough to express how much having you here has meant to me."

"You don't need to find the right words. I know," Mal assured her. "...The sun will be up soon, Evie. Better get some more sleep while you can, you're going to need it."

Mal rose from the bed, only to have her hand caught for a moment by Evie.

"Be here when I wake up?" she quietly asked.

"...You can count on it," Mal told her.

It was nothing short of a miracle that Evie could sleep at all, what with the knowledge that even though it might be hours or even an entire day, there was definitely a baby on its way into the world. Aches would turn to pains, pains would turn to excruciating pains. This she knew, Mal and the trusty (somewhat) laptop had spent months filling her in on everything that was to be expected when she was expecting. But when it was all over, there would be a new baby on the island. What Evie told her mom that day in the alley was the truth—she wouldn't always be pregnant, but she would always be someone's mother. A forever deal.

Mal tucked her in and promised that if Evie needed anything, she would come running.

Mal didn't keep track of the time after that, there were far too many other things occupying her mind. She had work to do, busying herself to get Evie's room ready for a brand new baby boy or baby girl, fitting the bed with cleaner sheets and rearranging pillows, fetching the towels from the improvised nursery that had the least amount of holes in them and making sure they were on standby to keep a newborn warm and cozy. No, Mal didn't keep track of the time, all she knew was that clouded daylight was just beginning to filter through the stained glass windows when she heard the shouting echoing up through the call box.

"Mal!!"

Mal knew Uma's bellows anywhere, and knew that if Evie was asleep on the other side of the hideout, she wouldn't be for long if the pirate kept at it. So she skipped her careful folding to haphazardly toss the last of the towels onto Evie's bed and race across the hideout, grabbing the horn on her end of the makeshift intercom.

"Uma!" she hissed. "Evie is sleeping! I'm coming down, just stay right there and shut up!"

Uma was used to giving orders, not taking them, and as such, Mal didn't know how long she could be trusted to stay right there and shut up. So she all but sprinted outside, her footsteps clanking quickly down the metal stairs as she met Uma in the alleyway below. Uma appeared nonplussed by the effort, not even waiting until Mal came to a full stop before she began talking.

"Heard through the withered grapevine that you and the princess spent the night traipsing up and down The Isle because Evie—"

"Is in labor? You made me run all the way down here for this?" Mal demanded, honestly a little winded.

"Well? Is it true?" Uma snapped in response to Mal's demand.

"Yes it's true, what do you care?"

"Then how is she asleep? Shouldn't you be getting your hand broken while Evie sits there and swears like a sailor?"

Wow. Mal was really wasting time and energy on this.

"That's not how it works," she sighed heavily. "That's the second stage of labor, she has hours to go before she even gets there. For now, she's resting. Which she's not going to be able to do with you and your loud mouth yelling at our front door. Seriously, why are you here?"

Mal had seen it all. A prim little princess becoming a best friend, a best friend becoming pregnant, even her own cold, malevolent heart warming and committing itself to one terrified girl and one little baby.

But never had she seen such a look of softness on Uma's face before.

"...It's just weird to think that it's really happening. And that you and Evie have to do this by yourselves. It doesn't seem fair."

"...It isn't fair," Mal whispered, her gaze far away for a second. "But that's the Isle of the Lost for you. Evie and I, we've done what we can with what little we have, but..."

"All of this has made me think. A lot more than usual. About how the kingdom put our parents here and how the kingdom turned its back when  _we_  were born here. We didn't do anything wrong, Mal. We were just born, and we didn't ask to be."

"Yeah..." Mal solemnly agreed.

"Look, I guess what I'm saying is that the princess might be the first, but she won't be the last; if there's gonna be a new generation of villain kids born on The Isle, then someone has to look out for them, the way me and my crew have looked out for each other, the way you and Evie have looked out for yours. Someone has to look out for them, because the royals on their thrones sure as heck won't."

"...Now you get it," Mal quietly said in astonishment. "...You get why I've stayed by Evie's side, why I'm going to keep staying at her side, why I  _care_  about that little prince or princess she's been carrying all this time."

Uma nodded slowly, avoiding Mal's eyes.

"You get it, Uma," Mal said again, still marveling a bit. "We did nothing wrong, Evie did nothing wrong, her  _baby_  did nothing wrong. This island is a prison, and none of us villain kids belong here. Our parents know nothing but evil, and they tried to raise us on evil too, but we don't have to follow in their footsteps. It isn't simple, and it isn't easy, but we can make the choice to be better and we can make our own paths. Mine's going to keep me next to my best friend and her son or daughter."

"...Mine's going to keep me fighting for what's best for The Isle," Uma's voice was soft, but filled with the surest resolve. "And it looks like what's best for The Isle, for the future of The Isle, is its kids sticking together."

"...We're all we've got," Mal said.

"We're all we've got. You and baby mama taught me that. So, I guess I'm just here to say...good luck," Uma actually smiled. "Tell Evie she's the toughest princess Auradon has ever seen. Even tougher than the one always walking around barefoot armed with a frying pan."

Now, Mal had seen it all. As Uma left with a cordial nod and turned to walk away, Mal knew that nothing in her life would ever surprise her again.

"And hey," Uma turned back around, a wicked smirk on her face that was far more up her alley. "Unlike you, I get an invite to the birthday party, got it?"

Mal rolled her eyes.

"You're hilarious."

It really was true, what Mal had said earlier. Evie was unstoppable. She turned a villain into a hero.

And she turned a pirate into a friend.

* * *

 

Mal once promised to let Evie hold her hand when the baby was on its way, and also wisely promised that it wouldn't be the drawing one. Wisely, because if it were her good hand she was surrendering to Evie's grip right now, there was every possibility she may never draw again. Slowly but surely, the dragging hours were starting to turn those uncomfortable aches of Evie's into pains.

Mal—theoretically, and for lack of a better word—was an expert. Countless long nights with only the glow of Carlos' old laptop illuminating her dark room taught her everything she needed to know, internet connection permitting. Evie's contractions getting worse...well, as Maleficent had put it, it wasn't a picnic.

"Mal..." Evie managed to whimper, her face scrunching up as she sat on Mal's bed.

"I've got you," Mal said right away, keeping her hand fitted firmly in Evie's.

She could clearly see the relief passing over Evie's face when it was over.

"I can't sit here anymore," Evie testily said, throwing the covers off of her in a restless fit.

"Okay, don't sit," Mal was quick to agree, keeping ahold of her best friend and helping her up from the bed.

"I'm not crazy, right?" Evie pleaded for an answer as she balanced on her feet.

Mal truly wished she could lie.

"You're not crazy," she shook her head. "It's been nine hours, E. Now they're going to start getting worse, and closer together. Come on, we'll walk in between them, it should help."

Evie kept that vice-like grip on Mal's hand as she carefully put one foot in front of the other.

"I know it doesn't feel like it, but this is good," Mal told her best friend. "It means you're getting through this exactly as you're supposed to. Way to go, mom."

The sun was up. Not much of a sight through The Isle's grim haze, but morning nonetheless. Mal almost wished she could care about school right now, she would  _love_  to have this scribbled across a note as her excuse for missing class. They circled the hideout's living room until another contraction struck, and for sure, they were coming closer and closer.

Evie didn't quite know what to make of the fact that it hadn't really hit her yet. She was smack dab in the middle of labor, sure, but having a son or daughter to call her own by the time the day was out? Not so much.

The grating sounds of the low-tech security system down below echoed all the way up into the hideout. Only four people on The Isle knew the way in.

"Jay and Carlos," Mal rightfully guessed. "I can get rid of them."

"No, it's okay, they can come up," Evie breathed.

"...If they get on your nerves I'm tossing them out on their ears," Mal warned.

They came into the hideout with wide, incredulous eyes, finding the girls right away.

"How's it going?" Jay asked, striding right over to them. His words were casual, his urgent tone was not.

"It's going," Evie said, sitting down on the couch with a bit of a plop.

"Do you know how much longer?" Carlos anxiously questioned.

"It's a waiting game, Carlos," Mal scoffed. "Could be tonight, could be tomorrow, no one knows."

"No one except this anxious little baby of mine," Evie sighed, and then looked up at her best friend. "...Mal..."

Mal knew what to do when her name sounded like that passing through Evie's lips. That was her cue to sit down, slip her hand into Evie's, and wait; to soothingly murmur reassuring words and remind Evie to breathe. The boys watched helplessly as the pain overtook and then passed her.

"Evie..." Carlos fretfully whispered.

"She'll be okay, she's strong," Mal rubbed a hand up and down Evie's back. "...But you two gaping at her like she's a ticking time bomb isn't helping."

"We weren't—!" Carlos defensively began.

"We're sorry," Jay apologized on behalf of both of them. "We're just so worried."

Evie smiled.

"Don't be. I have Mal. She hasn't left my side yet and I know she doesn't plan to."

"I've got her room all set up," Mal explained to the boys. "She'll have the baby in there, it'll be the most comfortable place for her."

"As comfortable as a pregnant girl can get, at least," Evie grumbled, shifting in her seat.

Carlos made the conscious effort to put a calming smile on his face as he came around the sofa and crouched down in front of Evie.

"...Hey, it's your big day," he said warmly. "You're right, we shouldn't be worried. Because you're going to do  _so_  good, Evie."

"...You think so?"

"I know so. Because there's someone here who's ready to meet you. And even though you're feeling too much of everything right now to realize it, you're ready to meet her too. Ready to hold her and hug her and give her the whole world."

"Betcha she'll have Mal's eyes," Jay teased, doing what he did best and lightening the mood.

Mal's eyes were busy rolling.

"I hope she has a lot of Mal's things," Evie said. "Her bravery, her strength, her heart...I can't wait to see all the things Mal's going to teach her."

Jay had a surprisingly wistful expression on his face.

"You know, when she first dropped the bomb on me that you were pregnant, I was sure there was no way you guys could just go and raise a baby. Not at sixteen, not on The Isle...but I'm really glad you decided to try anyway," he said.

"So am I. Because when I think about having a baby around, a baby raised by the two greatest girls I know...then the Isle of the Lost just seems to get a little bit brighter," Carlos said in the soft and gentle way that always befitted him.

Jay looked as if he'd suddenly remembered something, hurriedly fishing around in his back pocket.

"We brought these for you. You know nothing really grows here, so we couldn't exactly find flowers, but...well, it's the thought that counts."

It was a bouquet of droopy dandelions he held in his fist, the bright yellows serving as a substitute for The Isle's lack of real flowers. Evie didn't say anything, not wanting to risk tears in her highly emotional state, but the boys could see on her face how she was so,  _so_  grateful for the thought indeed. Already wilted, a vase would do the dandelions no good, so Jay merely set them down on the coffee table, a visual reminder to Evie that she wasn't alone.

"Well, looks like Mal's got everything under control here," Jay grinned and clapped a hand to her shoulder. "We won't overstay our welcome. Guess we'll just be back to say hello to my goddaughter."

Evie laughed.

"If you need us at all, we won't be far," Carlos promised.

The boys came in close to gift Evie the biggest of hugs, their embraces doing so much to settle and ground her. She missed them from the very moment they left, but Mal did her best to fill in the gaps, holding Evie in an embrace of her own with a protective arm around her shoulder.

"...Do I really have to sit here and do this for who knows how many hours??" Evie gritted her teeth as back and stomach were seized by the grip of another contraction.

"Well, you shouldn't have to be stuck thinking about it, you need a distraction. What do you want, E? I can turn the tv on, maybe get you your sketchbook? You know sketching takes your mind off of  _everything."_

Evie shook her head, keen on none of it.

"...Just talk to me," she whispered instead. "Just let me listen to your voice."

"...What should I talk about?" Mal wondered.

"Anything."

Funny. Mal and Evie always talked about everything. Talking about  _anything_ , on the other hand, didn't seem quite as simple right now.

"...I can't think of anything to say," Mal shyly admitted. "Not anything that I haven't already said before, at least."

"Like?" Evie prodded.

"Like...just how  _proud_  I am of you. I've watched you change so much, E, and I've watched myself change too. Neither of us are the same girls that came to the hideout after a brutal day of school to eat junk from the Slop Shop and bail on your date. We'll never, ever be those girls again, Evie...and that's okay. I'm glad we won't ever be those girls again, because now? After all of this? We'll be something much better."

"...A mom and an aunt," Evie said knowingly.

"Yeah, almost," Mal chuckled. "Almost a mom and an aunt."

Almost. Now there was a recurring theme in every villain kid's life, but especially so in Evie's. She almost spent the rest of her days locked away and banished inside a castle. She almost made a grave enemy in the daughter of Maleficent. She was almost doomed to lead the life her mother had picked out for her, almost doomed to be alone forever no matter how many arms she draped herself on or how many beds she found herself in.

Going through the biggest challenge of her life at just sixteen with the only girl she ever dared to call a best friend, Evie knew something now, truly and surely.

She'd never be alone again.

* * *

 

It was getting bad.

Mal sacrificing her hand wasn't helping, Mal's petty reminders to breathe in and breathe out weren't helping. Evie sitting doubled over in pain most certainly wasn't helping. And Mal now reduced to watching the clock? The one hanging crookedly on the wall with its broken minute hand dangling limp and useless? For sure wasn't helping either.

It was close to noon. To most people, that meant it was close to noon. To Mal, it meant that Evie had been struggling and suffering for nearly twelve hours now, and even if the first few of those hours were spent relaxed or asleep, twelve hours was just an awfully long time to do anything. There was no telling how many laps they'd made around and around the hideout as Mal tried to keep her walking and moving in between contractions, but it was enough for Evie to whimper and plead for a chance to get off her feet. The couch could no longer pass for comfortable, so the improvised delivery room it was, Evie only getting as far as the edge of the bed before she had to freeze up and fight to keep from drowning under another wave.

Mal had felt so incredibly much ever since making the silent promise to herself to stand with Evie through the entire pregnancy. She couldn't recall if "absolutely helpless" had ever made it onto the list until today.

"E, stay still, okay? I'll massage your back."

Stooped over and leaning on her bed, Evie could only nod.

"How do people do this?" she eventually panted when she had the chance.

"Especially without a Mal around," Mal lightly teased for Evie's benefit.

The pressure of the heel of her palm on Evie's lower back did wonders, helping Evie to relax her aching grip a little from the covers of the bed.

"M, this is getting so hard," Evie said through trembling lips.

"I know, Evie. I know. But I'm here. You just tell me anything and everything you need, don't be afraid."

"How are you so strong right now?" Evie questioned. "You've been at this just as long as I have,  _without_  any sleep—"

"I'm strong because you need me to be," Mal said simply. "And because my brand new niece is working really hard to get here, and she's counting on me to help her mom out. I can't disappoint her, can I?"

Laughter. It was clipped and tight, but there was laughter coming from Evie's lips.

Mal couldn't laugh quite so easily. She knew that after this many hours and this much pain, Evie was moving on to that agonizing second stage of labor that Uma was so concerned with. This was the part where those gifted with the luxury of living in nice, cozy fairytales headed to a warm and safe hospital to have their babies. But for Mal and Evie, who had never known the meaning of the word "luxury", all they had was a bedroom.

Evie had her eyes squeezed shut now, her head buried in her hand as she caught her breath as quickly as she could before she lost it again.

"It's better if you keep moving, E," Mal gently told her.

"I don't think I can anymore," Evie almost cried.

"You can. You're unstoppable, remember? It doesn't have to be much, okay? Let's just walk from one side of the bed to the other."

At Mal's words, and powered by one deep breath, Evie fought to stand upright.

"Good, Evie, good job," Mal grinned. "Come on, lean on me if you need to."

Evie tried very hard not to, to be strong on her own as one foot shuffled slowly in front of the other with the threat of another paralyzing contraction looming. Mal could tell, she could tell that Evie was trying not to need her, that even in the middle of the worst pain of her life her harsh upbringing at the cruel hands of her mother was telling her not to be needy, not to cling. Clinging wasn't attractive, after all.

"Evie," Mal said her name firmly. "Look at me."

When she did, Mal saw that her face was red and flushed.

"Do not do this to yourself," Mal looked seriously into Evie's hazy eyes.

"Do what?"

Mal didn't even answer, the expression on her face was all Evie needed to see to know that playing dumb would do her no good.

"...I'm sorry, Mal," she whispered.

"Don't be sorry. You don't need to act tough, E. You're already plenty tough enough."

Mal's smile. Evie felt so many incredible things when she caught sight of Mal's smile. But incredible took a backseat to the contractions that weren't giving Evie much of a break.

"No more..." she said tiredly when it was over. "No more moving, I just want to sit."

Mal didn't argue, keeping a supportive hand on Evie as she clambered onto the bed.

"I don't know how my mother ever did this," Evie said, breathing very deeply as she leaned back against her many pillows.

"Or mine. Especially by themselves. But don't you see? If they could do it by themselves, then you can  _definitely_  do it with someone here to help you."

"Maybe if there wasn't a baby deciding I make a really great substitute for a punching bag..."

"Well, she's a villain kid, after all," Mal quipped, standing over the bedside.

Maybe it was pain. Maybe it was hormones. Maybe it was twelve long hours or the weeks of weary exhaustion that came before them. Maybe it was a combination of all four, but either way, Evie was crying. The kind of aching cry that came with very little sound but an endless stream of tears, the kind of cry that Mal didn't even realize was happening until a couple soft sobs accidentally escaped from Evie.

"...Evie? Evie, what is it??"

Mal knew that tears were perfectly normal. But that didn't mean she wanted to see Evie having to deal with them on top of everything else.

"...I don't want to be here, Mal," Evie wildly shook her head. "Not in this room, not in the hideout, not  _anywhere_  on this island prison!!"

Mal was no stranger to Evie's tears, so she didn't know what made this time so unusual.

She didn't know what it was about this time that made her suddenly break.

"...I wish it were different too, Evie," Mal whispered, tears of her own flooding out of nowhere and rolling down her cheeks.  _"So_  different. You deserved so much more than a lost girl with a laptop looking out for you this whole time, you deserved someone who actually knew what they were doing, someone who could actually keep you safe. A hospital, a real crib, a real home to bring your baby back to, Evie, I would've given you all of it, if only I could...I'd give anything and everything to make this better for you."

Mal hurriedly climbed up beside her, and Evie simply fell into Mal's embrace when the arms slipped around her, simply let herself be held for a moment. Mal hugged her close, trying so hard to keep her tears from turning into helpless sobs.

"...Please know that I would do anything for you, Evie."

"...I know it, Mal."

Evie silently took it back, just a little. Not in her room, not in the hideout, not anywhere on her island prison, but only in Mal's arms was she content to be.

Only in Mal's arms.

"Mal!! Evie!!"

Uma's voice. The two heard it down from the alley below without her even needing to yell through the call box.

"Mal!" Jay's voice was there too.

Along with the whirring sounds of all the protective gates being tugged open by their pulleys as the two made their way up.

Neither Mal nor Evie budged as the others burst into the hideout; Jay, Uma, and Carlos was there too. All three of them winded as they found the girls in Evie's room, Carlos attempting to catch his breath first.

"You guys, there's...there's a limo down in the street!" he panted.

"Saw it coming a mile away from the crow's nest on my ship, but these two wouldn't get the lead out," Uma scowled at the boys.

"...What the heck are you talking about?" Mal demanded, wiping her eyes.

"It's out there drawing a crowd, it's got the royal flags and everything!" Jay pointed out one of the windows. "Uma said she saw it pass through the barrier on a golden road from the mainland."

Mal wasn't buying it.

"A limo from Auradon parked outside the VKs' hideout," she scoffed. "Evie and I are in the middle of something, in case you haven't noticed!!"

The last thing she wanted or needed was three high-strung lunatics stressing Evie out.

"...Mal, I don't think they're joking," Evie breathed, taking in the firm set to their expressions.

"I ran here," Uma flatly said. "Would I be running for a joke?"

"You have to come see, we'll carry Evie if we have to," Carlos urged.

"Evie can still walk on her own in five minute intervals," Evie herself sternly pointed out, her mood and emotions swinging all over the place.

Mal frowned.

"But you said you didn't want to—"

Evie shot her an indiscriminate look, reminding Mal and her finely-tuned sense of self-preservation not to argue with a pregnant woman, so she helped Evie back onto her feet, promising Uma and the boys that if they were speaking anything short of the truth she'd be hanging them by their thumbs. Evie had to labor through another contraction almost as soon as she stood up, with Mal's hand keeping pressure on her back to help her through it and the others powerless to do anything.

"Come on, Evie," Jay softly said, offering his arm to her when it was over.

She gratefully took it, hanging on tight as she made the walk to leave the hideout behind and head out with the boys, Carlos hovering protectively behind her all the while.

_"This_  is the part where I get my hand broken," Mal whispered to Uma as they filed out of the front door last.

"And Evie swears like a sailor?" Uma wondered.

"Not yet, but give it another hour."

Down the metal stairway and past the gates, Mal and Evie heard the commotion before they even saw it.

It was no joke.

Sleek and shining, the limousine's idling rumble filled the air right alongside the chatter and whispers of the island denizens who had drawn in curiously at the sight of it. None of them dared to come too close, not with the mountain of a man in a dark suit and even darker sunglasses standing protectively near the hood. None of them except the VKs.

"...Mal, what—?" Evie said in astonishment, trading Jay's arm for Mal's.

Mal didn't have a single answer for her, couldn't even hazard a guess. She and her friends stood gaping just like all the owners of the beady, villainous eyes crowded behind them. But then the back door opened, and although explanations were certainly still needed, introductions weren't.

They had seen his face on tv enough times.

"Princess Evie, I assume?" King Ben straightened out his suit jacket and smiled. "I guess we made it just in time."

Evie's head was suddenly spinning, and at this stage of the game, it was hard to tell from what exactly.

"...M, is that—"

"King Ben of Auradon addressing you by name? Yeah, it is," Mal responded with wide, glassy eyes.

Behind her, Uma and the boys were practically mirror images of Mal.

The young king kept his kind smile, coming right up and extending a hand.

"And you must be Mal," he said in greeting.

Mal was an Isle girl; she'd learned to bite the hand that fed her, so one could only imagine what she'd do with a hand that  _didn't_  feed her. Certainly not shake it, that was for sure.

"What are  _you_  doing here? Why are you looking for us? Who told you about us?!" she sharply demanded, not caring about the bodyguard/chauffeur stationed by the car and going on to glare threateningly at the king.

"Straight answers. No funny business, or else it's bye-bye Benny," Uma warned, fingers itching to curl around her sword.

Ben had obviously never met a villain kid in his life, and didn't expect quite so hostile a reaction from them, but already a smile seemed to be his default expression, even if it was an anxious one.

"I'm here to help," he said right away, appearing sincere.

Mal cared little for appearances. With Evie turning to lean her forehead against Mal's shoulder and brace herself as more pain hit, Mal cared very, very little for the kingdom's royal appearances. The crowd around them all started to back up, slowly but surely, wisely deciding that if a sea witch and the Rotten Four were about to throw down with the King of Auradon, they didn't want to get caught in the fray.

"Help? From Auradon?" Mal laughed, but wasn't at all amused. "What kind of help? Showing up twenty years later and at the very last minute, shaking a few hands, smiling for the cameras, bragging to everyone back home about how good and charitable you are to us poor islanders?"

"...Well, there aren't exactly any cameras," Ben chuckled nervously, smile faltering.

Uma swaggered into place beside Mal and Evie.

"What did I say about funny business?"

"I'm not—"

"You're trying to tell us that you're here to help Evie? Because Evie and I have done this on our own for nine months," Mal interrupted the king, the green of her eyes almost seeming to flare like flames. "No doctors, no checkups, no tests, we don't even know if this baby is  _okay!!"_

"Mal..." Evie lifted her head with a gasp, absolutely abhorring even the thought of that.

"I'm sorry, E," Mal quickly apologized for her temper before turning that temper back on King Ben. "On our own, or with our friends, but never with  _any_  help from Auradon."

"The kingdom doesn't exactly have a history of giving a rat's behind about the people on this island," Uma practically growled. "Not even its kids."

"Auradon didn't care about  _us_  when  _we_  were born," Jay gruffly said. "When our parents were having us in dark alleys or behind dumpsters."

"When we were growing up on garbage and sleeping in closets," Carlos added.

"So why should we believe that Auradon is here to help us now?" Mal fiercely finished.

Evie didn't have anything to add on her own behalf; never mind recounting emotional pains, she had much more physical pains to work through right now. Ben watched as Mal was there for her in every way, how even though her furious eyes never left him she was still keeping Evie on her arm, standing steady as Evie leaned heavily against her, being every single thing she needed.

"...I know Auradon hasn't been good to you. To any of you. You've spent all your lives being punished for your parents' mistakes, and that's something that was  _my_  parents' mistake," he began. "My father, my mother, and everyone around them, they were all so blinded by how the villains tried to destroy their happily ever afters that they couldn't see anything past that. They couldn't see you guys, lost in the dark. But that's why I'm here to change all of that, to make amends and make a difference. And what better place to start than the beginning of a brand new life?"

Mal figured the royals had a flair for pompous preaching. Seemed King Ben was only proving her right.

"You've known about Evie having a baby all this time and you're just now deciding to make a big heroic entrance?" she snapped.

Ben quickly shook his head.

"No, it's not like that! I mean, yes, I've known about the children on the Isle of the Lost and I've  _always_  felt terrible that my parents left you trapped here, but I didn't know about Evie until—"

"Until when?!" Mal demanded, already  _so_  done with Auradon's wide-eyed envoy poking his nose into VK business.

"Until I got your letter."

Only five small words, but still they sent Mal reeling. Turned her entire world upside down, pulled the rug out from under her, and various other idioms all reserved for complete and utter upheaval. Like a switch had been flipped, Mal softened right then and there, her eyes going round and shimmery like she might break down and cry right in front of everyone.

It felt very much like she would.

"What's he talking about?" Uma questioned, narrowed gaze tearing away from Ben to risk a glance at Mal.

"...Mal, what letter?" Evie quietly asked.

Mal felt all their eyes on her. Even some of the eyes from the crowd. But those didn't matter to her; all she had to do was turn and meet Evie's.

"E, I'd...I'd completely forgotten. Oh my  _gosh,_  I'd completely forgotten."

"Forgotten what??" Evie prodded.

"...That very first night the Evil Queen paid a visit. I wasn't there. The one time I should've been there, and I wasn't."

"...You were out," Evie dimly recalled. "It was the middle of the night and you came back to the hideout like you were already up and dressed."

The eyes of the boys and Uma were still riveted on her. All Mal focused on was taking Evie's hands and holding them tight.

"I couldn't sleep that night. You were three months pregnant and I was a mess, tossing and turning with what felt like  _a million_  thoughts in my head."

It tugged painfully at Evie's heart. One of her biggest fears, that Mal had struggled alone without anyone to talk to.

"What did you do?" she wondered.

"Got out of bed, couldn't sit still any longer. I thought about drawing, but my math notebook was sitting right there, and seeing as I definitely don't use it for math..."

"...You wrote about me?" Evie guessed.

"You, the baby, how hard it was to go through this on The Isle, everything we had to do alone and everything we were missing out on...just  _everything,_  Evie. Journaling, I guess, journaling to get it all out of my head because wow, was it deafening in there. But I didn't want you knowing I was so worried, no way in Isle or Auradon would I let you find out, so I got dressed, put my shoes on, ripped that page out, and left. Couldn't leave all those worries lying around the hideout for you to find."

"M..."

Evie hadn't known about any of this.

"It was stupid of me, and ridiculous, and I one hundred percent blame you and your fairytale daydreams for it, but instead of tearing it to shreds—or heck, watching it burn—I shoved it in a bottle I found on the sidewalk and went down to the docks to toss it into the water. For a while it was just floating across the waves...believe it or not, it was a little relaxing to watch. But I never even expected it to make it past the  _barrier_ , Evie. Let alone—"

"Let alone fall into the hands of the king?" Ben finished, warily attempting his soft smile again. "It did, Mal. It had a very long journey, maybe even an impossible one, but it ended up exactly where it needed to be. For such a long time I've looked out to the Isle of the Lost and felt like you guys had been abandoned by the kingdom, but after I found a message in a bottle, I knew the truth. The truth is that you weren't just abandoned...the truth is that there are  _no_  words for what we did to you."

Evie again buried her face against Mal's shoulder. Whether it was to cry or to get past a contraction, Mal didn't know.

"The Isle was meant to be a prison for villains, for evil," Ben said solemnly. "And after reading what you wrote? Knowing what you and Evie have gone through and everything you've felt? Mal, after learning just how much you grew to care about Evie and that little baby, how hard you two fought for him or her? It's as plain as day...you two aren't evil. You never were. The two of you are  _good,_  and goodness doesn't deserve to stay trapped on the Isle of the Lost."

Carlos gasped, putting two and two together.

"You're taking Evie to Auradon?" he squeaked.

"...It's where goodness belongs," Ben said simply.

And Evie wasn't strong enough to keep a flood of tears at bay.

"...I'm going to Auradon?" she whispered, her voice choked. "My baby's going to be born in Auradon??"

The limo door opened again, another all-too-familiar face stepping out to greet them.

"Well, not if we don't get a move on," the former Queen Belle said pleasantly.

"Everyone, my mom," Ben made the introductions. "I figured that even with all my good intentions you could really use someone here who  _isn't_  a sixteen year old guy, so from one mom to another..."

When Belle came forward, the first thing she did was give Evie a big hug.

A mother's hug.

"You've been so brave, sweetie. So strong. And we are  _so_  sorry that we couldn't do right by you, by any of the children of The Isle. But Ben here, well, as the fine king that he is...he's helping us to see the light."

There was no doubt about it, at least, not to Mal—the forlorn apology shining in the former queen's eyes, reflected across her face, it was a hundred percent sincere.

"And you don't have to worry anymore, we're going to take good care of you," Belle soothingly said, gifting the stunned Evie another hug.

Sincere or not, Mal almost entertained the notion of protectively muscling her way between them, but bit her tongue and waited for the hug to end before saying her piece.

"Where Evie goes, I go," she said, feeling somewhat under the impression that the royals were thinking otherwise.

"Of course," Belle only laughed and nodded, knowing it certainly wouldn't be any other way. "She needs you more than either of you know."

Ben made a playful show of pulling back his sleeve to check his watch.

"Well, seeing as we've got an impatient baby on our hands, shall we?" he easily suggested.

He waved the chauffeur away to hold the door open for the girls himself, inviting them inside and into the plush, cozy interior. Both Mal and Evie hesitated.

"...What about our friends?" Evie turned and looked to Jay, Carlos, Uma; three villain kids utterly at a loss for words. She thought about Dizzy, sweeping alone in her grandmother's shop. Gil, who gave the VKs the first pick of the crab cakes at Evie's coronation. Harry Hook, who bowed his head and offered Evie a friendly dance that very same evening with all the strikingly good intentions of a gentleman, not a pirate.

"...When I became king, I was so happy that I was finally in a position to make a change. And I knew what I wanted to change, but I didn't know how to change it. After today, and this moment, now I do," Ben's grin was positively boyish. "Being king means you get to make proclamations, and I think I'll have a proclamation coming up tonight that says Auradon is going to be seeing a lot of the villain kids very, very soon."

The other three still couldn't believe their ears, absolutely floored by so much happening in such a short amount of time. Did that really mean what they thought it meant?

"No way..." Carlos breathed.

"Are you saying...?" Jay was very rarely ever at a loss for words.

"You may want to consider packing a bag," Ben winked at the boys. "But first, I think there's a brand new villain kid waiting to be born."

He gestured to the limousine, and Belle did the same, again inviting the girls to hop in and get comfortable. Mal lifted a hand to wipe away the tears streaming down Evie's cheeks.

"...Told you I'd take you to Auradon someday," she said with a teary smile of her own.

Evie didn't have the strength to keep the tears at bay, but she mustered up just enough to throw her arms around Mal and bury her face into the crook of her neck with the most elated of cries. She didn't see it, but she felt it—Carlos coming in for a hug, and Jay too. The Not-So-Rotten Four, silently huddling around each other and needing no words as they stood together in one another's embrace, sharing in a moment so magical that not even the cruel barrier above could keep it out.

No words. Just each other. That was all they would ever need.

"...You'll be great, Evie," Jay said when they all reluctantly let each other go.

"And it looks like we'll be seeing you again soon," Carlos chuckled, his heart feeling so light and the back of his hand rubbing at his wet eyes.

"Yeah, so save a baby hug for me, okay?" Jay added. "Tell the kid that Uncle Jay and Uncle Carlos will be there before she knows it."

"...I will," Evie nodded, bubbly laughter escaping and what seemed like endless tears all around.

They were on somewhat of a tight schedule, or at least, the little strawberry was, so long goodbyes were out of the question. But that, it seemed, was the best part of all.

The fact that it wasn't goodbye. Not in the slightest.

Belle took Evie by the arm and gently helped her into the car before sliding in after her. Mal, in so many different kinds of dazes that she couldn't keep any of them straight, moved on something of a reflexive autopilot to shuffle to the limo and climb inside too, until a hand closing around her own and a sharp yank tugging her backwards stopped her.

"You still owe me a favor," Uma said, keeping a firm hold on Mal.

_"...What??_  Uma—!!"

"You said that when I came to call on it, you'd answer. Well, I'm calling on it," the pirate's eyes narrowed, watching Mal like a hawk.

"Are you crazy??"

"Are you going back on your word? Because you gave me your word, Mal. Does that mean nothing to you?"

Mal wondered if she'd still be allowed to come with Evie if she decked a pirate in the face right there in full view of everyone.

"Let go!" Mal ordered, trying and failing to pull her hand free. Uma wouldn't give up, wouldn't relent in the slightest.

"You gave me your word," she repeated, dangerously emphasizing each syllable.

"Fine!! What is it?!" Mal furiously gave in. "What favor could you possibly be asking of me right this second when my best friend in the world is in the middle of having her baby?!"

"...Come back for us," Uma whispered.

Her harsh grip on Mal's hand turned into her twining their fingers together, the steely set of her face softening completely. The saddest of smiles played across her lips as her wary and guarded heart couldn't truly bring itself to trust the royals' words yet dared to put all its trust in Mal.

"...I promise," Mal assured her, softening just the same. "I promise you, Uma..."

Mal and Uma's last hug was over a decade ago, in a different time, in a different world. If time now had permitted, Mal would've made the one they came to share here and now go on just a little while longer, just to make up for all the years.

But Evie was waiting, so with one final smile and nod to the friends she owed everything to, Mal climbed inside the limousine, took her place beside Evie, and started to leave the Isle of the Lost behind with a roll of the tires and two of the last people she'd ever expect to come to her rescue.

Quite a day. Quite a day indeed.

Jay, Carlos, and Uma followed them as far as they could, feet racing alongside the limousine and waving after them all the way to the crumbling bridge to nowhere that marked the edge of the island. Ben tried to show the girls their first glimpse of magic as a sparkling road of gold glittered to life over the water with just the push of a button, but neither of them paid it much mind.

They had just experienced magic a million times over.

"...Evie?"

"Mal?"

"You know it's going to wind up being a boy, right?"

Laughing wasn't something Evie thought she'd be doing at all today. Now, it seemed like the only thing she ever wanted to do again for the rest of her life.

"I know."


	9. Chapter 9

"...Evie, she's opening her eyes."   
  
Mal hadn't taken her own eyes off of her from the second she was born, of course she noticed the very moment that two tiny eyelids began to flutter and twitch.   
  
The little strawberry must have automatically inherited some of her mom's exhaustion, for she had snuggled soundly on Evie's chest for a good fifteen minutes before finally taking an interest in getting a peek at the world around her. Toweled off and laid right on top of Evie straight away after delivery, that was where she stayed—close to mommy's heart. She didn't have Evie's hair, she had wavy wisps of brown so dark they were almost black, but oh, how those sleepy little eyes carefully starting to blink open were absolutely Evie's.  
  
And Evie had had  _such_  a day,  _such_  an utterly exhausting one. Her tears were completely spent; as much as she wished she did, she didn't have any more to spare at the fact that her face was the very first thing her baby's gaze found.  
  
"...Hi, Cassandra," she whispered, smiling in place of crying.  
  
"Hi Cass...it's good to finally meet you," Mal could've cried for her, but she kept it together, not wanting her vision to blur and make her miss one solitary moment of this.  
  
Her best friend had a daughter now. A daughter curled under the softest of sheets while Evie laid in the softest of hospital beds, with Mal at the bedside sticking close to the both of them in the softest of armchairs. Turned out that soft was the epitome of Auradon.   
  
Both girls were right, back on the Isle of the Lost—it was the longest day of their lives. And yet, they knew that if they were given the chance to relive it all over again, neither of them would've changed a single thing. Well, maybe Evie would've opted to skip that last agonizing leg of labor and the equally agonizing two hours of pushing, but as long as it all ended with her little strawberry in her arms, then that was the only thing that truly mattered.  
  
"Look at her..." Evie said wistfully, lazily stroking a finger up and down Cassandra's cheek. Never in her life had she felt skin so silky soft.  
  
"She's so little," Mal marveled with a delighted giggle. "But those eyes are so big."  
  
Big and curious, wide awake now and clearly drawn to the sound of the two voices she knew best of all.  
  
"...Oh, Evie, you were... _incredible,"_  Mal brushed her fingers through Evie's hair in the gentle, soothing way they both liked. "No, incredible isn't even the right word, you were...E, there isn't a word for what you were. What you are."  
  
"Tired," Evie chuckled weakly, leaning her head into Mal's touch.  
  
Seventeen hours later, she certainly was.  
  
Her joyful elation at leaving The Isle only numbed the misery of contractions for a moment or two, and then it was right back to business as usual. Her hand in Mal's, Mal's words carrying her through the pain, truly business as usual as a magical bridge took them across the sea and to the shining glitter of Auradon. Focused on only her baby and Mal, Evie didn't even have a chance to revel in her first glimpses of the kingdom as the limousine passed onto the mainland, but deep in her heart she knew there would be plenty of time to revel later.  
  
Just as soon as a little baby was there to take in the sights with her.  
  
The hospital was new and frightening territory that neither of the girls knew how to navigate, with just the building itself already looming and imposing and bigger than anything they had on The Isle, but Belle was right there with them, helping Evie get settled into a wheelchair and letting Mal push her along. The former queen did all the talking, and before Evie knew it, it was her wildest dreams come true; a safe and sound hospital room, doctors and nurses, a strange and overwhelming yet still  _wonderful_  feeling that suddenly everything was going to be alright.  
  
The first few minutes in the hospital room were an incredible blur as people zoomed around to tend to Evie, and Mal was more than prepared to throw down with any nurse who got just a little too pokey and proddy for Evie's liking, but being escorted in by the former queen of Auradon apparently meant only the best treatment. Never before had anyone but Mal been so gentle with Evie.  
  
Mal wondered what it was that had everyone being so nice to her best friend. Maybe it was the way the daughter of Maleficent watched their every move like a vicious hawk. Maybe it was the fact that the daughter of Maleficent was even there at all. Or maybe, it was what Mal and Evie were slowly coming to realize right from the moment they met a limousine down in the streets below their hideout.  
  
Not everyone on the Isle of the Lost was bad. Maybe not everyone in Auradon was bad, either.  
  
And when the poking and prodding was over, when Evie was settled and as comfortable as she could be, when Mal dragged the cushy armchair as close to Evie's bedside as she could get...they didn't have many words to share. They were in Auradon. With Evie and unborn baby having miraculously been given clean bills of health and having nothing left to do now but wait.   
  
Wait to meet each other.  
  
At one point during the long-overdue checkup they heard a heartbeat, something so steady and rhythmic amongst the bustle in the room that it was honestly only background noise for a second, until it dawned on the girls what exactly they were listening to. Time seemed to freeze around them, the same way it seemed to freeze back on The Isle when a baby's first kick was felt by Evie and her best friend. It was a magical moment all on its own, made even more magical when one of the nurses was happy to announce that the little strawberry was perfectly fine and that she had a very strong heartbeat.  
  
_She._  
  
Cassandra wasn't doing much now, except stealing Mal's and Evie's hearts, but still the girls were utterly fascinated with her.  
  
"...Aunt Mal and I are so glad you're finally here," Evie softly said to her little girl, still brushing her touch across her skin.  
  
"Yeah, you were pretty tough on mommy for a little while there, kid," Mal added, leaned in so close in her chair that she was practically on the bed herself.  
  
"A little while?" Evie laughed. "A little more than a little while, Cassandra. But you were worth it...I want you to always know that you were  _so_  worth it."  
  
Evie knew she never would've made it through the last few hours of labor without her Mal there beside her. Mal had all the right things to say when things were at their absolute worst, when things were so bad that Evie's whole body was shaking terribly under the grip of her pain. And what's more, Evie actually believed all that Mal said to her, fierce words of encouragement and promises that she could make it that would've been lost on her from anyone else's mouth but Mal's. Mal stayed brave herself, not shying away from Evie one single bit as the going got tougher and tougher, never for one solitary second entertaining the thought of leaving her side.  
  
And really, watching Evie fight to bring her daughter into the world was the most amazing thing Mal had ever seen in her life. Second only to the tiny little baby peering so very intently into Evie's face.  
  
Being a mom was never the plan. Not at sixteen, not ever. But now that Evie was? Now that her own eyes were looking back at her with a sort of glimmer that Evie liked to imagine meant  _"...I know you!"_? She would never let any power in the universe turn back time and take this away from her.  
  
"...Mal, her crib," Evie suddenly remembered, tearing her attention away from her daughter for the first time.  
  
"We'll get it," Mal promised. "And her clothes, Uma's mobile, we'll go back for all of it, E. There's plenty of time, don't worry."  
  
Evie wasn't too worried, she couldn't be. She was in a dream. Calling to mind the numbing, paralyzing fear of the moment she first held the pregnancy test in her hand and finding herself unable to help comparing it to the awe and the wonder that was seizing her now. What a grand end to one adventure and an even grander beginning to a new one.  
  
"...You did it, Evie," Mal said quietly, as if the thought was starting to dawn on her in its entirety.  
  
"I try," Evie giggled, brushing aside the tufty strands of brown on her daughter's head. Strawberry was so quiet, so calm, just as fascinated with her mom and aunt as they were with her.  
  
Watching Evie and Cassandra gaze into each other's eyes, Mal felt very much like she was in the middle of a dream too. A dream about ten tiny fingers and ten tiny toes, a nose like a button and the squishiest of cheeks. For nine months she'd watched Evie face her fears, find her courage, fight with strength she never even knew she had. Evie was so incredibly much long before she ever became pregnant; fierce, powerful, and what Mal had already made clear once before—a force of nature. Carrying Cassandra, protecting her and guarding her for so very long, Evie became even more. And she would grow into even more still with each passing moment, with every cry she would soothe, every fever she would cool, every scrape she would kiss.  
  
It was like Cassandra knew, as she silently studied every plane and facet of her mother's face. She knew she'd just met the most extraordinary person she'd ever meet in her entire life. And Mal? Mal had just met an extraordinary person too. Seemed there was an entire world waiting in this one small child, a world far brighter than The Isle, even brighter than Auradon, a world fate decided Mal should stumble into and a world she herself decided she would never leave. It was absolutely fitting in every way—only Evie could create something so indescribably perfect.  
  
And when Mal took one deep breath and moved gingerly so as not to disturb the moment, when she drew in close to kiss Evie with a tentative softness that didn't dare shatter the bubble of peace around them, the sheer magic in the air was utterly palpable.  
  
"I love you..." Mal whispered against Evie's lips.  
  
Evie's tears were spent no longer. They pooled in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks as so many different emotions and the sudden spark of a tremendous realization overwhelmed her in the most remarkable of ways.  
  
"...I love you too, Mal."  
  
It was funny how nine months of Mal's stoicism was all coming undone in just one day of endless crying. Her heart felt like it would burst. She never even knew what love was, yet all this time, Evie and Cassandra had slowly but surely been teaching her together. And now? Now Mal hopelessly loved them both.  
  
Evie couldn't decide where she wanted her focus to settle, a mesmerized gaze shifting from Cassandra to Mal, Mal to Cassandra. Both girls owning claims to her heart. It all made so much sense now, how day by day she had fallen in love with Mal. Slowly, yes, so slowly that neither of them realized it was happening, but happening fiercely just the same. Every time Mal rubbed her tummy, every time Evie was held by her, every laugh they shared over baby kicks and hiccups and all the wiggles in between...Mal and Evie were always becoming something more. Falling in love not just with the thought of a baby, but so very much with each other.   
  
"...How did this happen, M?" Evie wondered, tears running free. "Falling in love, having a baby...that's a fairytale ending. Mal, how did  _we_  get the fairytale ending??"  
  
"I'm not sure, E..." Mal said with a tearful sniffle. "Maybe your little girl is magic after all."  
  
"Our little girl," Evie corrected.  
  
"Our little girl..." Mal softly repeated the words like speaking a prayer. "The most amazing little girl in all the lands."  
  
"The first villain kid ever to be born in Auradon."  
  
"And the best part, Evie? ...She won't be the last."  
  
The girls weren't quite sure where they would go from here, but it really didn't matter to them. Wherever they went, they knew they would be going together. As a family.  
  
"I never knew so much could happen in just nine months," Evie said in awe.  
  
"Neither did I...but what I know now is that you and Cass will always be the best things that ever happened to me," Mal vowed.  
  
"...And we will always be your family," Evie gave her word. "Mal, neither of us will ever be alone again."  
  
While her tearful mom and aunt talked, Cassandra was busy giving her hand a few good stretches, a few curls of her little fist. Evie slipped a finger inside her grip and felt her heart swell when the tiny hand closed so tightly around her.  
  
"Oh, you're so strong," Evie said in amusement.  
  
"She gets that from you," Mal said, smiling brightly.  
  
The two of them never wanted their moment to end, but soon the nurses came around to help get everything situated. They were so very careful with Evie's baby as they took her and moved her across the room to fit the little strawberry into a diaper and wrap her in a blanket so she could be in Evie's arms instead of laying on her chest. Mal was Evie's eyes as they took Cassandra through all the newborn routines, standing up to watch them weigh her and measure her and mark her teeny footprints on a birth certificate, relaying everything that happened to an Evie who was so worn and tired that she really couldn't move to see for herself. The baby beanie slipped onto Cassandra's head was patterned with hearts, and the blue ID bracelet fastened around her wrist proudly proclaimed both her name and Evie's.  
  
It turned out that Mal's job as keeper of the pillows didn't just stop at The Isle, and she gently rearranged the surprisingly plush hospital ones to help Evie sit up a bit more and hold her proverbial bundle of joy when she was returned to her.   
  
Little Cassandra had cried and wailed right after her delivery like any other newborn would and should, a sound that both broke Evie's heart and captured it at the same time, but the second the nurse laid her down on Evie's chest...suddenly all went quiet. Cassandra knew mommy was there, and calmed immediately. The same happened again now, as the hiccuping threat of tears that started to build as she was mightily fussed over by nurses and their procedures ceased when she was put in Evie's arms, when Evie pressed a kiss to one silken cheek. Mal chuckled as she sat back down in her armchair and trailed her touch along the fuzzy beanie and the bracelet.  
  
"Not even an hour old yet and already making fashion statements. This is definitely your daughter, E."  
  
Evie couldn't look prouder.  
  
"Hi baby," she sniffed, greeting her little strawberry like they'd spent ages apart instead of just a few minutes. "Missed you."  
  
Those glittering brown eyes were blinking slowly at her, absolutely riveted. Mal was adoring the way she fidgeted, the way arms and legs just idly squirmed around in their blanket for no other reason than that they could. Cassandra discovered her own face then, a curious hand grabbing again and again at her cheeks, rubbing her nose.  
  
"She can't sit still," Mal noted with a smile.  
  
"Believe me, I know," Evie wasn't too far removed from all the restless nights of laying awake as Cassandra wiggled and kicked the evening away.   
  
"I guess she's just as excited to be here as we are to have her here."  
  
Cassandra's head seemed to gravitate in the direction of Mal's voice then, something she recognized just as well as she recognized Evie's.  
  
"Yeah, you know your Aunt Mal, don't you?" Evie propped her princess up to help her blurry and bleary eyes see. "You remember her singing to you, and talking to you. Aunt Mal has always protected us and taken care of us...she's the reason we're a family, Cassie. And we will always have each other."  
  
Mal couldn't help herself, she too indulged in brushing a gentle touch across one squishy cheek, having to feel the utter softness for herself.  
  
"I don't know how to tell you how proud I am of you," Mal said to Evie.  
  
"...Try 'I love you'."  
  
Mal had already said the words, and had them said back, but hearing them again struck to life an incredible warmth inside of her.  
  
The daughter of Maleficent was supposed to follow in her mother's footsteps as ruler of The Isle, future mistress of evil. She was never supposed to have a friend, let alone a best friend. And she certainly was never,  _ever_  supposed to know feelings like the ones she learned she'd been having for Evie.  
  
"...I guess the barrier around The Isle stopped us from knowing what it was, but it never stopped us from feeling it," Mal leaned in to place a soft kiss upon Evie's cheek. "This was all way unexpected, just like a certain little strawberry, but here we are. I was supposed to be evil, you know. Taking over The Isle and maybe even Auradon someday. You really ruined that for me, huh?"  
  
"You and I did something so much better than taking over The Isle," Evie smiled at her. "We set it free. All because we dared to love instead of hate. Uma, the boys, Dizzy, everyone who proved they were so much more than what the people of Auradon thought they were and everyone who's going to prove it later, all the future VKs just like Cassandra waiting to be born...they won't be children of The Isle anymore. They'll be children of Auradon. As long as King Ben keeps his word."  
  
"Oh, he will. I'll make sure of it," Mal firmly said. "...Look at you, Cass. You're the start of so much."  
  
Cassandra, very interested in discovering what her hat felt like, was rather unimpressed with being the start of so much.  
  
It was just the three of them, locked and lost in their own little world for a while now, a brand new family getting to know each other.  
  
"...M, come here."  
  
Mal lifted her gaze from baby to Evie.  
  
"...What? Are you sure?"  
  
"Yeah. I'm okay."  
  
So Mal stood up and walked around to the other side of the hospital bed, climbing up onto the empty space beside Evie. She said she was okay, but still Mal moved and settled in carefully, knowing her best friend was sore and battered and in no fit state to be jostled. Evie shifted Cassandra so strawberry could watch them both, mom and aunt sitting shoulder to shoulder.  
  
"...I can't wait for everyone to see her," Evie murmured, looking over her baby with a mother's loving gaze.  
  
"Yeah, well, Jay's a trained thief, so better make sure he doesn't run off with her."  
  
Evie laughed, and Cassandra's eyes appeared to widen inquisitively; there was a sound she recognized.  
  
"The boys will adore her," Evie said.  
  
"Uma will too," Mal pointed out.  
  
"Dizzy will have so much fun playing with her and dressing her up...oh Mal, she's going to be  _so_  loved."  
  
Evie's eyes again started to water at the thought of it, of her daughter growing up with something no villain kid ever knew, something Evie and Mal never found until much later in life.  
  
"She deserves it, E...you both do."  
  
"So do you. You've been my everything, and you helped me bring my daughter here, safe and sound...I love you, Mal. I could never ask for anything more."  
  
Mal reached over to run her fingers through the thin and angel-soft tufts of hair poking out from under Cassandra's beanie. She remembered the day her best friend took the pregnancy test. She remembered thinking how at the end of it all there'd be another Evie in the world. Well here she was, snuggled in her mother's arms and staying so very still under Mal's touch.  
  
"Your mom wanted you to choose a prince, Evie. But maybe...maybe you could choose me instead? Your daughter is the most important thing in your life now, and I'd love her and treat her like she was my own. You asked me once what I saw in my future, and I told you that all I could really see was you and her. This is where I want to stay."  
  
"Mal—"  
  
"I know, I know, you're going to tell me that futures can change, just like yours did. But I know that my one and only home is right here, and that's something that will never change. Our little strawberry just came into a brand new world and is so at ease right now because she can feel how safe and adored by us she is. Maybe all of this was unexpected, but somehow it still led us exactly to where we were supposed to be, so—"  
  
_"Mal,"_ Evie interrupted. "Stop trying to convince me. Just...be mine."  
  
Mal's face lit up brightly.  
  
"...I will," she promised. "The way I always have."     
  
They sat there and marveled together at how quiet their little baby was, how there was no fussing or whimpering or even the slightest hint of unease at being thrust into a bright and foreign world completely unlike the one she had known for the last nine months. Seemed that Mal was right. Cassandra could sense how safe and protected she was with a mom and an aunt at her side. No need to cry, no need to fuss.  
  
"I don't know where we'll go now that we're free of The Isle, but at least we'll all be together," Evie said. "I guess like the hideout, we can make our own home here in Auradon, but this time it'll be so much more than just a place to hide."  
  
"You probably don't remember, you know, trying to keep from passing out in the limousine, but Ben and Belle were talking about Auradon Prep, and how Ben's plans are to bring the villain kids over and have them go to school there. That could be our new home. We'd keep being roommates, E, just like on The Isle. And you wouldn't have to give up on school entirely, we could take turns spending the day in the dorm room taking care of Cassandra."  
  
How Mal couldn't wait to help take care of her.  
  
"And you know a place like Auradon Prep has just  _got_  to be full of preps and prisses who would give their crowns for designer fashion," she went on excitedly. "Evie's Five Hearts could be up on its feet in just a few months. All your dreams could come true at once."  
  
"Mal, it won't be nearly that simple. Trying to balance school and life and Cassandra? I'm not just Evie anymore, I'm her mother. And she's going to be a lot of work, a lot of  _hard_  work."  
  
"I know that, but...we're together in Auradon. A happy ending."  
  
Evie thought Mal's words over.  
  
"...More like a happy beginning, I think," she said.  
  
"The happiest," Mal agreed.  
  
"...Cassandra, your Aunt Mal and I used to play a game. We'd close our eyes and imagine we were in Auradon, and imagine all the things we'd do while we were there. But now we're really here, with  _you._  And we can play in the sunshine, and eat amazing food, watch tv on rainy days and look at the stars on clear nights..."  
  
"Watch the flowers bloom in spring and the leaves fall in autumn," Mal added, the artist within her longing to experience all the colors firsthand. "Sleep until noon in warm beds with mattresses like clouds."  
  
"...Sleep," Evie repeated dreamily. "...We're definitely going to sleep."  
  
As if on cue, Cassandra's eyelids suddenly seemed to be two very hard things to keep open, drooping shut and blinking back to life over and over again accompanied by the mightiest of yawns.  
  
"Me too," Evie murmured drowsily, echoing the feeling.  
  
"Me too," Mal said right after her, remembering she'd been awake since one in the morning without a moment of rest.  
  
It was the longest day of their lives, after all, and it wasn't even over yet.  
  
"They say you're supposed to sleep when the baby sleeps," Mal said with a yawn of her own, moving to rest her head on Evie's shoulder.  
  
"Who's 'they'?"  
  
"Some very wise people, obviously."  
  
Evie watched as her daughter lost the fight to stay awake in no time at all, and her eyes finally closed with a flutter.  
  
"...I love her," she quietly said, as if the realization had finally dawned on her when truly, she'd known it all along.  
  
"Anyone who gets to be loved by you is a very lucky person, E."  
  
"...I'm a very lucky one too, M."  
  
Nine months ago Evie held a pregnancy test. Now, she was holding a daughter. Two drastically different days in her life that she would never, ever forget. Crazy crazy.  
  
She unintentionally mimicked her daughter just then, eyes fluttering drowsily. Mal smiled; she'd once assured Evie that the chance to sleep would find her as soon as the little strawberry was born, and here she was being proven right.  
  
"...Our little girl will be one big adventure," Evie was already so accustomed to crying today that she'd stopped wasting her energy trying to hold back tears.  
  
"And if she's anything like her mom, a bit of a handful."  
  
"You mean if she's anything like her  _aunt."_  
  
"You forget I've just spent the last seventeen hours with you. You're a handful."  
  
_"You_  forget I've just spent the last seventeen hours  _in labor!"_  
  
Mal chuckled.  
  
"I'm messing with you, E."  
  
"...I know. I'm messing with you too," Evie said with a tired but happy laugh. "Because goodness or no goodness, you're still Mal, and Mal can be a little troublemaker. Please don't ever change."  
  
"Deal."  
  
Now Evie was yawning, her body growing so very heavy, her vision blurring inadvertently as exhausted eyes lazily unfocused. Cassandra appeared to already be out like a light, like nothing short of an army would wake her.  
  
"This is her way of telling you that you did an amazing job, and that it's time for you to get some sleep now," Mal whispered in Evie's ear.  
  
"...I almost don't want to sleep. I just...I want to look at her, Mal."  
  
"She'll be here when we wake up," Mal said, carefully nuzzling against Evie as she got more and more comfortable. "She'll be awake, and probably hungry, and  _then_  she won't be so quiet anymore, so let's rest while we can. Just hold her close, E."  
  
Evie already was, so very close to her heart, the steady beating of it probably having lulled Cassandra to sleep in the first place. Mal, although dangerously tired, couldn't even take her own advice just then, forcing her weary eyes to stay open and peer past Evie's shoulder as she watched her little niece breathe in and out without a care in the world. Instead of an army, Cassandra woke herself up long enough to stretch, her whole body wriggling and her eyes scrunching before she settled back into sleep.  
  
And if Mal had it bad, then Evie had it so much worse.  
  
"...You, baby girl, will always have mommy's heart," she promised with a whisper. "I worried so much for you from the second I found out about you, but you're happy, you're healthy, and you're  _here_. So much about being pregnant with you scared me. How in the world was I ever going to raise you, and care for you, and give you all that you needed? Well, not alone, for one thing. I learned that pretty quickly."  
  
Mal was listening intently as Evie went on, the sound of her best friend's voice serving as something warm and soothing to her muddled senses.  
  
"I think in one way or another, every mother wants a better life for her daughter than the one she had before her. My mother wanted me to be pampered by a prince in an enormous castle with my name on it. Mal's mom wanted her to share in power, control, and the rule of an entire kingdom. In their own twisted ways, I guess even they wanted something better for us. But I don't want something better for my daughter, Cassie. I want the  _best_  for her."  
  
Evie had to stop to wipe one balled-up fist at her eyes, tears running beyond control and her voice trembling with so much emotion as she spoke her next words.  
  
"And now I know the answer to how I'm going to raise you, and care for you, and give you all that you need...with  _every single thing_  I have, that's how. Every last fiber of my being. It's like my life is finally starting, right alongside yours. I've got my Cass, and I've got my Mal, and suddenly I'm not so scared anymore...mommy loves you, Cassandra. Mommy will  _always_  love you, forever and ever."  
  
This was Evie's forever. A baby slumbering in her arms. A best friend and love beginning to slumber at her side. A bed so soft with space for all three of them and a room with windows bringing in warm setting sunlight while honest to goodness birdsong chirped away outside the glass. The Isle had tried, really and truly, but it couldn't get the best of Evie's family. The strength of evil was good as none, because it stood before three hearts as one.  
  
"Will she really be here when I wake up, M? Are you sure this isn't all just a dream?" Evie asked.  
  
Mal gave up on keeping her eyes open, gave up on it entirely.  
  
"It is a dream, but the best kind of dream. A dream come true," she murmured, comfy on Evie's shoulder. "Wake me up when it's time to parent."  
  
"Wake  _me_  up when it's time to parent," Evie yawned and laid her head atop Mal's.  
  
She slipped a finger back into Cassandra's hand, and even in sleep her baby's grip squeezed and held her tight. This was indeed Evie's forever. She closed her eyes and felt true, all-encompassing peace settle over her for the very, very first time in her life.  
  
The Isle of the Lost was aptly named. Lost hopes and lost dreams, lost hearts and lost souls. They all ended up in the prison across the waves, trapped among the garbage and the decay. An island built on the hate and cruelty that Mal and Evie had succumbed to for so, so long. But then they dared to love. An utterly unexpected turn of events made them brave enough to try. And in doing so, the pair ended up  _finding_  something there on the Isle of the Lost.  
  
They found each other. They found those hopes and dreams buried and forgotten underneath the rubble. They found friends, they found a family. They found a future,  _their_ future, one they would share in together and soon come to share with all the friends they'd made along the way. A future snuggled nice and neat in a fuzzy blanket with wispy brown atop her head and Evie's ethereally beautiful eyes resting peacefully.  
  
A future all wrapped up in a tiny sleeping bundle named Princess Cassandra.


End file.
